


Runner Like Me

by commander_hearteyes23



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Slow Build, Witness Protection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-08-28 16:47:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8454139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commander_hearteyes23/pseuds/commander_hearteyes23
Summary: Lexa, Indra, Lincoln, Anya, and Aden Woods are placed into the Witness Protection Program. New identities, a new town half way across the country, completely new lives. Everyone seems to be adjusting pretty well, aside from Lexa. Is this the worst thing that has ever happened to her, or will it turn out to be the best?





	1. A Brand New Life

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I've been working with for a while. I don't know exactly how the Witness Protection Program works, so I'm just going to put my own personal spin on it. So i'm sure there are going to be inaccuracies. Anyways, let me know what you all think! Thanks for reading (:

Lexa sat in a little white room with her family, looking around, angry that she was even there in the first place. How had things gotten this bad? How had it gotten to the point where she needed to be relocated across the country? This was ridiculous.

A U.S. Marshal walked into the room holding a stack of manila envelopes. "I am so sorry for the wait. These envelopes contain everything you will need to start your new lives. Your new social security cards, birth certificates, driver licenses, etc." He said handing the envelopes out one by one.

Lexa laughed out loud when she read about her new life. "Fields? Really? You couldn't think of anything more clever? We're going from Woods, to Fields? Does nobody else see the humor in that?" 

"Lexa! That is enough!" her Aunt Indra snapped at her.

Lexa just rolled her eyes as the U.S. Marshal continued talking. "We will accompany you all to the airport. You will then board flight 307 to Lambert - St. Louis International Airport. From there, another one of our agents will take you to your new house. After that, you will pretty much be on your own. You are not to speak of any of this to anyone. And I do mean anyone. This is a very serious matter and you must all take it seriously." he said looking right at Lexa.

Lexa rolled her eyes again. "Lexa!" Indra exclaimed.

"It's Alexandria now, but I think I'll just go by Alex. I think it sounds better, don't you Aunt..." Lexa looked through her packet for her Aunt's new name. "Sophie." she said when she finally found it.

"Damn it Lexa! Do you think that this is funny? Do you think any of us actually asked for this? Because I can assure you, we did not. So why don't you grow up, act your age, and work with us." Indra yelled.

The smile dropped from Lexa's face. "Now, if you're all ready, it's time to go. Make sure you study the information in those envelopes. That is your life now, I wish you all the best of luck. We will be here if you need us." The U.S. Marshal stated as he guided everyone out to the hallway.

The trip to the airport was completely silent. Lexa's seat on the airplane was right next to her little brother, Aden. Or Austin, as he was now supposed to be called. During the long flight, Lexa read and re-read all about her new life.

They were now the Fields family. Lexa was now Alexandria and Aden was now Austin. Her Aunt Indra was Sophie, and her cousins Anya and Lincoln were now Natalie and Nathaniel. It was going to be hard to get used to that. Lexa had never imagined that things would get so bad that she needed to be put in the Witness Protection Program. 

"Hey Lex?" Aden asked looking at his sister.

"Buddy, you have to call me Alex from now on. Or Alexandria, but I really would prefer to just stick with Alex. It's short and sweet. Anyways, what's up?" Lexa asked.

"I think I might stick with Alexandria." Aden smirked at his sister.

Lexa play pushed her little brother. "That is a mouthful, and nobody has time for that. I think it's best we stick with Alex."

"You know Aunt Sophie isn't going to go for that. She'll call you Alexandria, just like she'll probably stick with Nathaniel instead of Nathan or Nate." Aden said.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. So what did you need to ask baby bro?" Lexa asked ruffling her brothers hair.

"Okay one, don't do that. I'm 15 now and as you would say, nobody has time for your nonsense. Two, do you think that we're going to be okay?" he asked on a more serious note.

Lexa grabbed Aden's hand. "Of course buddy. We have a completely different life now. New names, new identities, we're moving half way across the country. They will never be able to find us, I promise." 

Aden gave a half-hearted smile. "Okay. I'm going to try to get a little bit of sleep before we get there."

"Okay buddy, get some rest." Lexa felt the worst for Aden, he was the baby. At 15 years old, that boy had gone through the unthinkable. Lexa would do anything to protect her little brother, she had practically raised that boy. 

Lincoln was the oldest, at 25 years old. In his old life, that's what Lexa chose to call it, Lincoln was a med school graduate in his first year of residency. Unfortunately, in his new life, that was not an option. He had to become a nobody, they all did. None of them could draw attention to themselves in any way. It was just too dangerous.

Anya was the next oldest at 23 years old. Anya was nothing like her older brother. She never went to college, hell she barely even graduated high school. It wasn't because she was dumb, in fact Anya was probably the smartest one out of the group. She just had a problem with authority. She already knew a majority of what the teachers were trying to teach and got bored fairly quickly. Which was a bit of a problem. One of Anya's favorite things to do was race motorcycles. It was how she used to make most of her money.

Last, but certainly not least, there was Lexa. Lexa was like the perfect mix of Lincoln and Anya. Lexa was a very dedicated student. Graduated at the top of her class, double major in college, she knew what she wanted out of life. Past tense... knew. It was probably why she was so bitter about her whole life being flipped upside down, among other things.

Lexa, much like her cousin Anya, had a problem with authority. She didn't like to be told what she could or could not do and she had a very, very sarcastic attitude. Most people, if they didn't know the real Lexa, would probably call her a bitch. And after everything that had happened, Lexa's bitchiness had escalated a few levels. 

This wasn't easy on any of them. None of their lives could be what they once were. It was going to be hard, but they were lucky to have Indra with them. Indra was the voice of reason. She always had a level head and always knew what to say to comfort them.

Everyone was really exhausted when the plane finally landed. Neither Anya or Lexa had any sarcastic comments when the two U.S. Marshals walked up to them in the airport and directed them "right this way."

They followed quietly and piled into the SUV that was waiting for them. A short drive later and they were pulling into a subdivision. The houses were huge and they all looked the same. Lexa hated neighborhoods like this. 

Indra was the only one who had specific details about everything that was going on. She had been in contact with the U.S. Marshals over the past few days getting everything in order for their move. 

The SUV finally stopped in front of one of the houses. There was already a car in the driveway, which confused Lexa. "Is this ours? There's already a car in the driveway." she asked.

"Well we needed to be sure that you would be able to get around. We have made copies of the house key already." One of the Marshals said handing everyone a key, Lexa was pretty sure her name was Echo. "So, we have paid your first six months rent. But after that, it's up to you. You all might want to start looking for jobs. You'll find a resume in each of your envelopes, with the exception of Austin. It's summer, obviously, so you won't have school just yet. But there are plenty of things for a boy your age to do around here." Echo said.

"Okay." Aden said, barely a whisper.

"Anyways, there are a few surprises in the house for you all inside. You know how to reach us if needed. No go enjoy your new lives." Echo said motioning for them to get out of the car.

Anya and Lexa scoffed at the same time. Indra sent a death glare to both girls. "Out." she said firmly

The girls got out of the car giggling. They headed up to the house and Lincoln pulled out his house key. Slowly, he turned the key and pushed open the door. "Welcome home." he mumbled as they all entered the house.

Indra turned on the lights. Lexa was surprised, the house was actually kind of nice. Though she would never say that out loud. "What's that on the table?" Aden asked pointing towards the kitchen.

"No fucking way!" Anya said picking up one of the boxes. 

"Are these what I think they are?" Aden asked.

"iPhone 7's. Yeah. There's on here for each of us. Our names are written on the top of them." Anya replied.

"Look guys, there's a note with them." Lincoln said picking up the note.

Dear Fields family,  
We know that this transition isn't easy on any of you. These phones are a gift from us to you. None of you will have to worry about the monthly payments, this one is on us. We also have a surprise for Alexandria, Natalie, and Nathaniel out in the garage. Austin's surprise is in his bedroom. We wish you the best and we hope that this at least helps a little bit. Good luck.  
Echo Teles  
U.S. Marshal

Anya was the first one to make it to the garage. Everyone else followed quickly. Anya stood at the door, mouth wide open. Lexa didn't think she had ever seen Anya speechless before. "What is it???" Lexa asked pushing past her cousin. As soon as she saw what Anya was looking at, Lexa's mouth dropped open as well. Sitting in the garage were three Kawasaki Ninja 300 SE's. "Holy shit."

"There are only a couple of things you need to do to be able to keep these." Indra stated.

"Mom you knew about this?" Anya asked.

"Well it was my idea. But like I said, I have a few rules. You're all adults, so you will be expected to pay your own insurance every month. The bikes are all paid off. You will be careful on these, there are helmets for a reason. I am not messing with any of you. Do what I say or I'll take the bikes away." Indra said. 

Lexa wanted to point out that Indra had rhymed the last part, but fought the urge. She was not about to get her brand new motorcycle taken away already because of her smartass mouth. Lexa, Anya, and Lincoln all ran up and hugged Indra. "Thank you so much! Seriously, this means a lot." Lexa said.

"Well we need to make the best of this situation, and I expect cooperation from all of you." Indra replied. She handed each of them the registrations for the bikes before heading back inside.

"So who's is who's?" Aden asked excitedly.

Lexa looked down at her registration and smiled. "The blue and black one is mine!" Blue was Lexa's favorite color so she was really excited.

"I have the black and grey one." Lincoln smiled as well.

"Well then, that leaves me with this sexy beast." Anya said running up to the lime green bike.

Lexa laughed. "Alright squirt, let's go see what your surprise is." she said winking at Aden.

They walked back in the house together. "Wait, what bedroom is mine?" Aden asked.

"I don't know bud. Let's go ask our dear Aunt." Lexa said. 

Indra was in the kitchen looking through some paperwork. "Aunt In... Sophie, where are the bedrooms?" Aden asked.

"Lexa's... I mean Alexandria's bedroom is in the basement. Natalie and Nathaniel's bedrooms are upstairs. Natalie's is the first door on the right and Nathaniel's is the last one on the left. Mine and yours are up here. Mine is on the left and yours is on the right, down that hallway." Indra told them.

"Mom, can we please call each other by our real names while we are in the house? Please?" Anya asked.

Indra thought for a moment. "In the house only. I'm serious. No screw ups." she finally said.

"Oh thank god. Come on Aden, let's go see this room of yours." Lexa walked with her brother. Her face instantly broke into a smile when she walked into the room. There was a huge flat screen television hanging on the wall and a huge box on the bed. "Go see what's in the box."

Aden ran over to the box and opened it. "Lex! It's a ps4 and a bunch of games, like a bunch of games. There's even a headset in here and everything!" he was so excited.

"That's awesome buddy! We'll have to have a game night soon so that I can totally kick your ass." Lexa nudged her brother. 

"Oh whatever Lex! You couldn't beat me if you tried. I'm a video game addict remember?" Aden turned to face his sister.

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Well I'm going to let you set up your new room the way you want it. I think I'll just head downstairs to see what I have going on down in the basement." Lexa left her brothers room and made her way to the basement to find her own room.

The smile had left her face as she thought about everything that had happened. Yes, the phone and the bike were nice. But it didn't change the fact that everything was different now. All of her old friends, she was dead to all of them. Literally. As far as anyone from her old life knew, Lexa and her whole family were dead. 

Lexa stood outside her bedroom door, she was afraid to open it. She couldn't help but feel like she was opening the door to her new life, and if she opened the door it meant her past was gone forever. If she opened the door, it made this all real. Lexa took a deep breath and pushed open the door. 

Tears immediately welled up in her eyes. "It's exactly like your old bedroom, or at least as close as we could get it." Indra said walking up beside Lexa.

Lexa turned to hug her aunt. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She whispered in Indra's ear.

"Go get some sleep. I think we could all use it. Goodnight Lexa." Indra said pulling out of the hug.

"Goodnight Aunt Indra." Lexa closed the door and walked over to her bed. She was so tired that she didn't even take her clothes off before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning when Lexa woke up, she looked through her closet for something to wear. Apparently the Marshal's had gone shopping for clothes as well. Indra must have told them their sizes and styles. When Lexa finally found an outfit she deemed worthy, she set off towards the bathroom. She definitely needed a shower.

When she got out of the shower, Lexa got dressed and brushed her teeth. Then she headed upstairs. Lexa wanted to take her new bike out for a ride, get familiarized with this new town. As Lexa got to the top of the stairs, she heard unfamiliar voices coming from the living room. 

Lexa freaked out and practically ran into the living room. Who was in their house? When she got there, Lexa saw Aden, Indra, Anya, and Lincoln. They were talking to three strange people that Lexa had never seen before. 

"Ah, Alexandria. Come meet our new neighbors. This is Abby and Jake Griffin, our neighbors to the right. And this is Aurora Blake, our neighbor to the left. This is my niece Alexandria." Indra introduced them.

Lexa walked over to shake their hands. "Please, call me Alex." she smiled.

"Nice to meet you Alex. We were just coming over to welcome you to the neighborhood. We were just telling the rest of your family that our kids will be home from college for the summer later on this afternoon. They're around your all's age." Aurora said with a smile. 

"Oh really? How many children do you have?" Lexa asked politely.

"Well I have two. Bellamy, who is 23, and Octavia, who is 21." Aurora replied.

"We have two as well. Clarke, who is 21 as well. And Raven, our adopted daughter, who is 22." Abby added. 

"That's nice. We will definitely have to have you all over for dinner once we get settled in." Indra said.

Lexa looked at her aunt like she was crazy. They didn't know these people, why was she inviting them over for dinner? "That sounds great! It was so nice meeting you all. If you need anything, you know where we live. Don't hesitate to ask." Jake said standing up. 

The neighbors stood up and walked to the door, giving a small wave as they each went back to their respective houses. "They seemed nice." Indra said when they were gone. 

"I'm going for a ride. Explore the neighborhood. I'll be back later. I have my phone on me if you need anything." Lexa said walking towards the garage. What Lexa failed to mention was that she was really going out job searching. She wanted to be out of that house as much as possible. Lexa didn't know if she liked this new life. All she did know was that things couldn't possibly get any worse.


	2. Bad Blood

Lexa double checked to make sure she had put a couple of copies of her resume in her backpack before leaving the house. She wasn't exactly sure where to start, so she decided to just drive around for a while and stop if she saw something worth checking into. 

Lexa really loved children. In her old life, she was a double major in Social Work and Psychology. She wanted to help kids who had troubled home lives. Lexa realized that's what she wanted to do with her life when she met her girlfriend, Costia. Costia had had a rough upbringing and Lexa had been there for it all. They had been friends for many years before they had finally started dating. Lexa never wanted to see anyone go through the things that Costia had.

Lexa had thought about asking if she could re-enroll in school, but assumed that the Marshals would tell her no. So she had no idea what she was going to do.

After riding around for a little while, Lexa stopped at a gas station to get something to drink. She had a little bit of cash saved up from before, and luckily she got to bring it with her because otherwise she'd be broke.

When Lexa got up to the register to check out, she took a look at the cashiers name tag. "Hi Jasper. My name's Alex and I'm new around here. I was just wondering if you know of anywhere around here that's hiring?" she asked. 

"Dude, how'd you know my name?" he asked.

Lexa laughed. "Dude, you're wearing a name tag." she joked.

"Haha, right. Well, Walmart is always hiring." Jasper said.

"Ew, no retail."

"Fast food, or restaurants?"

"No thank you."

"Do you know what you might want to do? It might help me out a little bit if I know what you're looking for."

"Maybe work with kids."

Jasper's face lit up. "The preschool right behind here is hiring I think. You should totally check it out. Make a left out of the parking lot, go straight at the stop sign, and you'll see it right in front of you." he said giving directions.

"I will. Thanks Jasper. See you around." Lexa said walking back out to her bike.

She rode down the road following Jasper's directions. He wasn't kidding, the preschool was literally right behind the gas station. Sure enough, there was a huge "NOW HIRING" sign right out front. Lexa parked her bike and walked to the door. She had to ring the door bell and wait for someone to answer.

Almost immediately a woman walked over to the door and answered it. "Hello, welcome to Polis Children's Academy. What can I do for you." she asked politely.

"Hi, I was just wondering if I could get an application? I saw you were hiring and I'm new to town, looking for a job." Lexa said smiling.

"Oh, absolutely!" the woman walked into the office, grabbed a packet from a drawer in the desk, and walked back. "I'm Kortney, the school director. If you'd like to sit right over there and fill out the application, you're more than welcome." Kortney said with a smile still on her face. "Would you happen to have a resume on you?"

"Yes ma'am." Lexa said getting into her backpack to get out her resume. She handed it to Kortney.

"Thank you. I'll look this over while you fill out the application. Just bring it to me when you're done." Kortney said going back into the front office.

"Thank you so much." Lexa sat down at the table to fill out the application. Luckily she had memorized all of the information about her new life already. It would probably look suspicious if she had to keep looking at her paperwork to be able to fill out the application. She filled out the application quickly and when she was done, stood up and walked it over to the director.

"Finished already?" Kortney asked.

"Yes ma'am." Lexa replied.

"Well..." Kortney looked down at Lexa's application. "Alexandria, do you have time to sit down and do an interview right now?" she asked.

"Please, call me Alex. And absolutely I have time for an interview!" Lexa replied.

"Alright Alex. Follow me and we'll get started." Lexa followed Kortney to the office and sat where she was directed to. Kortney closed the office doors.

Kortney started off with some pretty basic questions, then gradually moved on to things pertaining to the job. Lexa answered all of her questions confidently. The interview seemed to be going extremely well. "Well Alex, I only have one more question for you." Kortney stated.

"I have one more answer." Lexa said laughing.

Kortney laughed as well. "So, when is the earliest that you can start?"

"I got the job?"

"If you want it, it's yours. We have been looking for a second school age teacher for weeks. Our main school age teacher comes back on Monday and her co-teacher quit out of nowhere." Kortney replied.

"Absolutely, I want the job! I can start on Monday if you want." Lexa said excitedly.

"Perfect. If you want to come in at 7 a.m. Monday morning, we can have you fill out your new hire information and get you started. Thank you so much for coming in." Kortney said smiling.

"I'll be here bright and early Monday morning. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend!" Lexa said shaking her new bosses hand.

Lexa left the preschool in a great mood. She couldn't believe that she had already gotten a job. She wasn't quite ready to go home yet, so she decided to explore a little bit longer.

During her exploration, Lexa came across a small park with a couple of walking paths. She pulled into the parking lot and parked her bike. It was a beautiful day out and Lexa just wanted to enjoy it. There were kids laughing and playing on the playground, birds chirping in the trees, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was the perfect kind of day.

After walking around for a while, Lexa decided that it was probably time to go home and tell everyone about her new job. It was only about a 15 minute drive from the park to her house. When she pulled into the driveway, Lexa noticed a big red pickup truck filled with boxes and furniture parked out front of the neighbors house. She would have offered to help unpack, but there was nobody around to ask. So she just walked into the house.

Lexa didn't see any of her family in the house, so she headed downstairs to her bedroom. Shortly after, Lexa heard a knock on her bedroom door. "Come in." she said.

Anya opened the door and walked in. "When did you get home?" she asked.

"A couple of minutes ago." Lexa replied.

"So have you met the neighbors yet?" Anya asked.

"Uh yeah. We all met them, this morning. Duh."

"No, you asshole, their kids."

"Oh. No I saw a truck out in front of the Griffin place though."

"Oooh cousin, you're missing out. They make some pretty fucking hot kids. Like seriously hot." Lexa rolled her eyes at her cousin. "Don't roll your eyes at me Lexi Poo. I'm dead serious. There's one who I totally think is your type. You should totally get up on it." Anya said, play shoving her cousin.

"Not interested. You should go for it though if she's that hot." Lexa laughed.

"Whatever, your loss." Anya said leaving the room.

Lexa grabbed THE HOT ZONE off of the book shelf, it was one of her all time favorite books, and headed upstairs to the back deck. She wanted to lounge outside and read for a while.

It was nice and quiet while Lexa read. But then she heard voices. She sat up and took the glasses off of her face, looking around for the source of the voices. Lexa broke out into a smile when she saw who was talking.

Lincoln was talking to someone, who Lexa could only assume was one of the neighbors kids. She was a really pretty brunette, totally Lincoln's type. Lexa grabbed her phone and texted Anya.

ALEX: Come out to the back deck, but be quiet.  
NATALIE: girl why?  
ALEX: Just do what I said, but seriously. Be quiet.

Anya came sneaking out within a minute. "What do you want?' she whispered.

Lexa pointed next door to where Lincoln and the girl were standing. "He's totally flirting with her." Lexa whispered.

"Oh my god!" Anya whispered excitedly. "That one is Octavia Blake. I mean I could assume because I saw the other two girls go into the Griffin house earlier."

"Oooh we are going to give him so much shit for this later." Lexa said trying not to be too loud.

"How about I embarrass the shit out of him right now?" Anya said standing up. "Hey, Nathaniel! Quit flirting with our super hot neighbor and get your ass in here. Mom said she needs you!" she yelled startling Lincoln and Octavia.

Lexa had never seen Lincoln turn so red before. It took everything in her not to bust out laughing. Lincoln said a quick goodbye to the girl before running into the house.. "You are such a bitch." Lexa said.

I'm his little sister, it's my job." Anya shrugged her shoulders before going back to the house.

Lexa laughed again before opening her book and continuing to read. Lexa got so caught up in her reading, she hadn't realized how late it had gotten. "Alex, dinner's done." Aden yelled outside.

She stood up and went inside to wash up for dinner. Indra had tried to make cheeseburgers and French fries for dinner, but her cooking skills were definitely lacking. Lexa wasn't big on cheeseburgers but she wasn't one to complain.

"So how was your day Lexa? We didn't see much of you today." Indra asked.

"Actually, I have an announcement. So today while I was out, I saw a "NOW HIRING" sign outside of a preschool and I applied for a job. The director interviewed me right then and there. I got the job and I start Monday morning." Lexa told her family.

"That's awesome! What will you be doing there?" Indra asked. 

"I'll be one of the school age teachers there. I'll start at like 10 dollars an hour, or at least I think Kortney, the director, said." Lexa replied.

"Well that is great to here. Anything else new?" Indra asked.

"Lincoln has a crush on one of the neighbor kids." Anya said hoping to embarrass her brother. 

Aden and Lexa started laughing. "Shut up, I do not!" Lincoln said defensively.

Indra rolled her eyes. She was used to this by now. The rest of dinner ran fairly smoothly, with Anya and Lincoln only getting into two more arguments. Both over the Blake girl who lived next door. Lexa went and played video games with Aden for a while before heading off to bed. It had been a pretty eventful day and Lexa was beyond exhausted.

The next morning Lexa woke up and decided that she wanted to go on a run. She loved running, it was so peaceful and it gave her plenty of time to think about everything.

Lexa pulled her hair up into a simple pony tail, put on a pair of shorts and a cutoff, and grabbed her headphones off of her dresser. She put her headphones in her ears, turned on her running playlist, and quietly left out the basement door. She didn't want to wake anyone up.

Reading and running were two of Lexa's safe havens, always had been. That was something that would never change, no matter what life she was forced to live. She hadn't been able to run the past few weeks because of everything that had happened and Lexa had missed it. She missed it more than she'd like to admit. After she started running, it was like she had never stopped. She ran out of the subdivision and down the road to the gas station by where she would be working. She wanted to see if Jasper was there. He was the one who suggested the preschool and Lexa wanted to thank him.

Lexa took her headphones out of her ears as the automatic doors opened and she entered the gas station. There was a different boy at the register, he looked to be about the same age as her. She walked up to him, "Hi, is Jasper working today?" she asked.

The boy looked Lexa up and down. "You're looking for Jasper?" he asked.

"Yes, is he here?" Lexa asked again.

"Yeah sorry, he's in the back. I'll go get him for you." 

"Thank you so much. I really appreciate it." Lexa replied.

The boy walked to the door that said, "EMPLOYEES ONLY" on it and walked through. Lexa moved closer so she could hear the boys talk. "Jasper, there's someone out there to see you." she heard the boy tell Jasper.

"Well who is it?" Jasper asked.

"I don't know. I've never met her, but she's smokin hot." Lexa rolled her eyes at the boy's comment.

"Her?" Lexa heard a crash coming from the back followed by the sound of running feet. She hurried back to the counter and waited. Seconds later, Jasper came crashing through the door like a crazy person. He stopped when he saw Lexa. "Alex, right? How are you?" he asked walking over to her.

The other boy went back behind the counter. Lexa smiled. "Yes, and I'm great actually. I just wanted to come and thank you for suggesting the preschool. I got the job and I start on Monday. So, thank you, and I guess I'll be seeing you around. If I don't have my morning coffee, I'm useless." she joked.

Jasper laughed. "Dude, that's awesome! I have some friends who work there too. They're good peeps."

"Good. Well I guess I'll let you get back to breaking stuff in the back." Lexa winked. "See ya later Monty." she said to the boy behind the counter.

"Dude, how'd she know my name?" Lexa heard Monty ask Jasper.

"Nametag dumbass." Jasper said as Lexa walked out the door.

Lexa let out a small chuckle. She remembered confusing Jasper the same way the previous day. Putting her headphones back in, she began running again. Lexa was on her way home when she starting thinking about this new life she had been thrown into. Yes, it was shitty, but it was just another thing that she had to deal with.

Being so lost in thought, Lexa didn't even realize that she had already made it back to the subdivision. She had a job already, Aden seemed content, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Maybe this was meant to be a second chance for her. Who knows, she might even end up liking it he..."

*THUD*

Lexa ran head first into someone, both falling to the ground. "Owch, what the fuck!?" she yelled standing up.

Lexa looked at the girl standing in front of her. She was absolutely gorgeous. Long, wavy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, amazing body. If Lexa had a type, this girl was definitely it. "What the hell?! Don't you watch where you're going?" The girl asked angrily. 

Or maybe she wasn't Lexa's type.

Was this girl seriously trying to blame this whole thing on her? "Excuse me?" Lexa asked.

"You just practically tackled me to the ground. Look I've had a shitty day and I just don't have time for this. So could you just apologize so I can leave?" the girl said.

Lexa's mouth dropped open. "You have got to be fucking kidding me! One, it was an accident. Two, it was just as much your fault as it was mine. Clearly you didn't see where you were going either."

"Whatever. Like I said, I don't have time for this. Have a good life asshole." The girl said walking away from Lexa.

Lexa was in shock. What the hell had just happened? Lexa decided to take the long way home, run off her anger.

When she got home she started to go downstairs. "Hey who is that?" Indra yelled from the kitchen.

Lexa walked to where her aunt was. "It's just me. What are you doing, why do you look so freaked out?"

Indra looked frazzled beyond belief. "Well I sort of invited the Blake's and Griffin's over for dinner. But then I remembered that I can't cook. So now I have no idea what I'm going to do, because I can't cancel but I also don't want to kill them with my cooking." Indra was definitely freaking out.

Lexa walked over to her aunt. "Hey, calm down. Lucky for you, I'm an expert chef. What did you buy to cook for dinner?" 

"Really? Thank you so much! I bought all of the stuff to make your mother's baked teriyaki chicken, potatoes, and a salad." Indra replied.

Hearing about her mother made Lexa wince. But she snapped out of it quickly. "Awesome. Let me shower really quick, get the stink off of me, and I'll get started. Should only take me about an hour and a half to get everything cooked." Lexa said running downstairs to shower and get changed.

Lexa showered in record time, got dressed, and headed back to the kitchen where Indra had everything sat out. "Is there anything I can do to help?" Indra asked.

"I think it would be best if you stayed out of the kitchen." Lexa joked. "Why don't you set the table and have a glass of wine. Relax a little." Lexa suggested.

"Okay. Seriously, thank you Lexa. You're saving my life right now." Indra said hugging Lexa before leaving the room.

Lexa walked over to the stove and preheated the oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit . Then grabbed a small pan and put it on the stove on low heat. She mixed the cornstarch, cold water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and ground black pepper together in the pan. The sauce simmered and Lexa stirred frequently until it began to thicken and bubble.

Lexa put the chicken pieces in a baking dish, brushed the chicken with the sauce, flipped the chicken, and brushed them again. After that, she slid the dish into the oven to start cooking.

Next, Lexa started on the potatoes. They were the easiest. She poked holes in all of the potatoes, wrapped them in aluminum foil, and placed them in the oven with the chicken. Lexa made sure to brush more sauce over the chicken every 10 minutes and after 30 minutes had gone by, she flipped the chicken over and repeated the process. The potatoes finished but the time Lexa flipped the chicken, so she took them out and placed them all on a platter.

While the chicken cooked for the last 30 minutes, Lexa finished up the salad. "Wow, it smells amazing in here." Anya said walking into the kitchen. "Yes I know. Do me a favor and take the bowl of salad and the potatoes into the dining room and put them on the table?" Lexa asked her cousin.

"Yes commander!" Anya saluted her cousin and grabbed the food.

Lexa rolled her eyes and she checked on the chicken. "Finally done." she said to herself as she pulled the chicken out of the oven.

"Lex, that seriously looks so good. Can I have a bite?" Aden asked.

"Absolutely not!" Indra said coming into the kitchen.

Lexa laughed, "Well I think that the boss has spoken."

Aden opened his mouth to say something when the doorbell rang. "Hey Aden, can you get that? Bring them into the dining room and let them know to make themselves comfortable. Dinner will be out in just a minute." Indra said.

Aden huffed as he left the room. "Don't look so nervous. You've been through way worse than this. Why is this freaking you out so much?" Lexa asked genuinely concerned for her aunt.

"This is the first time I've ever gotten to live a somewhat normal life. You know how things were. Everything was some sort of business arrangement, it was never about making friends or living normal lives." Indra explained.

Lexa knew exactly what Indra was trying to say and she felt bad for her. Lexa knew exactly how she felt. She just wanted this night to run smoothly for her aunt. "Don't worry, the food is excellent. And you're amazing. They're going to love you. You really have nothing to worry about." Lexa tried to comfort her aunt. "No get out there and greet our guests and I'll bring out the rest of the food."

Indra smiled. "Thank you."

Lexa grabbed the baking dish, with pot holders, and followed Indra into the dining room. "Alex. It's good to see you again. I hear you're responsible for all of this amazing looking food." Jake Griffin said as she put the chicken on the table.

"Yes sir. I just hope it tastes as goo as it looks." Lexa chuckled.

"Please, call me Jake. Come, meet the kiddos." Jake said walking over to a small group of people standing in the corner talking. Lincoln, Aden, and Anya were with them. "Alex, I'd like you to meet Bellamy and Octavia Blake. I think you can guess who's who." Jake introduced them laughing.

Lexa really liked Jake, he was a good man. "Hi, it's nice to meet you." Bellamy said shaking Lexa's hand.

"It's nice to meet you. The food looks and smells amazing." Octavia said with a smile. 

"You're damn right it does. I don't think that I have ever been so excited for food before, and food is life. So I really hope this dinner tastes like it looks and smells or I'm going to be very disappointed." the other brunette girl said interrupting Lexa before she could say thank you.

"Raven!!" Both Jake and Abby said at the same time.

"You'll have to excuse her. She's kind of a rude ass. This is Raven Reyes, our adopted daughter. But I don't know, at the rate she's going, we might have to unadopt her." Jake said teasing the girl. 

"Whatever Papa G, you know you can never get rid of me. You're stuck with my rude ass for life." Raven turned and looked at Lexa. "Sorry for being rude. I have no filter and when I get hungry my mouth tends to run and I can't stop it. Thank you for dinner by the way, Alex." she said to Lexa.

Lexa laughed. "Well it's nice meeting all of you. Thank you for all of your kind words. I really hope you enjoy the meal." 

"Wait, where's Clarke?" Abby asked.

"Right here mom, sorry I was using the restroom." Lexa turned her head in the direction the voice was coming from. She recognized that voice. Lexa's stomach dropped. Standing in front of her was the bitchy blonde from earlier. "You!" she blonde, Clarke, exclaimed.

"You?" Lexa said, more as a question than anything else.

Nobody said anything for a moment. The tension in the room was nearly suffocating. "So I see that the two of you have met." Jake stated laughing.

This was seriously not happening...was it???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I really hope you liked this chapter. Sorry, you still don't know why they ended up in witness protection. I'll go ahead and let you know now, you won't find out until chapter 5. Thank you for all of the kudos and comments! They inspire me to keep writing. Comment and let me know what you think so far and what you think is going to happen next. I love hearing from you all! Again, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.


	3. 99 Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke's POV of the last few days.

Clarke's POV - Friday Morning

Clarke sat in the backseat of Bellamy's truck with Octavia's head in her lap. They were all heading home for the summer, like every year. Bellamy had just graduated so this was his last summer before being thrown out into the real world, so to speak.

Usually Clarke was excited any time she got to come home. But not this time. It wasn't that she didn't miss her parents, because she did. It was Finn. Clarke had been dating Finn for almost six years, and lately it seemed like all they ever did was fight. Clarke loved Finn but she really wasn't in the mood to fight anymore. Unfortunately she knew that was what was going to happen if she saw Finn face to face again. 

Clarke had thought that she was going to spend the rest of her life with Finn, but now she just didn't know anymore. It was like every week they found something new to fight about, it was getting old. Maybe she just needed to sit down and try to talk with him about everything.

"Hey Clarke, you okay?" Bellamy asked looking in the rearview mirror. "You haven't said a word since we left."

"Just tired." Clarke replied.

Raven opened her mouth to protest, but Clarke shot her a death glare and Raven kept her mouth shut. 

Clarke knew she was going to have to tell Octavia and Raven what was going on eventually. They knew that Finn and Clarke had been fighting, but not how bad it had gotten. But she wasn't about to have that conversation in the truck, and definitely not in front of Bellamy. Bellamy and Finn were friends and she didn't want him to run back and tell Finn everything before Clarke could talk to him.

Clarke closed her eyes and pretended to sleep the rest of the way home. A little while later, Clarke felt someone shake her shoulder. "Clarke, we're home." Octavia said. 

Clarke opened her eyes and climbed out of the truck. Bellamy, Octavia, and Raven headed towards the Blake house. Clarke headed towards her own, she was so excited when she saw her dad sitting on the front porch waiting for her. She ran as fast as she could and nearly knocked down her dad when she slammed into him with a huge hug. "Well hiya kiddo. Did you miss me?" Jake Griffin asked his daughter, laughing.

"So much. It's really good to see you. Where's mom?" Clarke asked.

"She's over at the Blake's. She made lunch with Aurora and they're claiming that you all need to eat before unpacking. I'm sure Raven is thrilled." Jake laughed again.

Clarke rolled her eyes. When Abby and Aurora got together, nobody wanted to be around them. "Well I guess we better get over there before mom has an aneurism or they call out a search party to come and find us." Clarke said.

Both families sat and had lunch together. They talked about school, Bellamy's new job, and what they had all been up to since the last time that they had seen each other. 

After lunch, everyone went outside to help unpack. Clarke was exhausted, so she decided to go lay down for a bit. Within minutes there was a knock on her bedroom door. Before Clarke could say anything Raven came bounding through the door and flopped down on Clarke's bed. "Sure, come on in." Clarke said sarcastically.

"Whatever Griff. So are you going to tell me what's going on?" Raven asked.

Clarke sighed. "What do you think?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Douchebag Finn. Of course. He always has something to do with your unhappiness."

"I just don't know what's going on anymore. Sometimes everything is perfect and he's so sweet. But then he turns into douchebag Finn, as you would call him. I'm just so tired of fighting with him all of the time." Clarke explained.

"Oh my god you guys, have you seen our new neighbors?" Octavia came running in the room, face flushed.

"We have new neighbors?" Raven asked.

"Yes, and I think they were sent down by the gods. Also, I think I'm in love." Octavia stated.

"Oh yeah? And who is this hot new neighbor that you're in love with?" Raven asked.

"Come look out the window. I'll point him out if he's still outside. His name is Nathaniel and I am convinced that he's my soul mate." Octavia said excitedly.

Raven walked over to the window with Octavia. Clarke chose to stay in bed. "Holy fucking hotness! Who the hell are these people? Greek Gods?" Raven's mouth dropped open.

"Could you guys please quit creeping in the neighbors windows? It's kind of creepy and stalkerish." Clarke said, annoyed.

"Clarke, could you please stop being such a crabass? Just because douchebag Finn is being a douchebag, doesn't mean you have to be miserable. Fuck him. He's not worth you constantly being upset over." Raven told her best friend.

"Rae, we've been together for so long it's hard. Like I know that I love him, and I care about him. But I don't know if I'm in love with him. I can't tell if I'm only with him because it's what I'm comfortable with. I just don't know what to do anymore." Clarke confessed. 

"Well maybe you need to sit down and talk to him." Octavia suggested.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. I'll go over to his apartment tomorrow morning and we'll talk. Sorry I have been so crabby lately." Clarke apologized to her friends.

"When aren't we right?" Raven asked smugly.

Clarke rolled her eyes. "Bell said that he is going out with Finn tonight to have a few drinks, we could always crash their little party." Octavia suggested.

Clarke shook her head. "No. I just want to stay in and relax tonight. I have a feeling that tomorrow is really going to suck."

As much as Clarke loved her friends, sometimes they were just a little too much to handle. They only wanted what was best for her, but their methods were slightly unorthodox. Luckily for Clarke, they had decided to behave themselves that night. They all just lounged around and watched movies all night long.

Clarke was the first one awake the next morning. She decided to sneak out to go talk to Finn before her friends woke up. She slipped on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and started walking towards Finn's apartment. Clarke had no idea what she was going to say to her boyfriend when she saw him, but she knew they had to do something. Their relationship had been rocky for longer than either of them would care to admit and this conversation would either make them or break them.

Finn only lived a few minutes away from Clarke's house, so she got there rather quickly. Finn's truck was in the parking lot, so she knew that he was home. Clarke climbed the stairs to Finn's apartment, the door was locked as expected. She pulled out the key that Finn had given her the day that he had moved into the apartment, and unlocked the door. Everything was quiet when Clarke walked inside. She walked down the hallway to Finn's bedroom and slowly opened the door.

Clarke couldn't believe what she saw. She instantly felt sick to her stomach. It was like her heart had been ripped out of her chest and stomped on repeatedly. What should she do? Sneak out, pretend she never saw? Confront him later? Or wake his cheating ass up and confront him now? Her inner Raven Reyes won over and she decided on the latter. "You lying, cheating, son of a bitch!" she yelled, throwing the key at his head for dramatic effect. 

Finn shot up quickly, as did the girl in his bed. "Finn what the hell is going on? Who is that?" she asked.

Finn just sat there, looking exactly like someone who had just been caught cheating. "Yeah Finn, What's going on?" he still didn't say anything. So Clarke continued. "Well then I guess I'll explain." she looked from Finn to the girl. "Hi. I'm Clarke Griffin. Finn's girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" the girl asked angrily.

"Of almost six years. Sorry to tell you what this asshole, douchebag clearly should have told you last night." Clarke said still extremely pissed off.

The girl hopped out of bed quickly and began getting dressed. "Wow, you really are a huge fuck head. Don't call me. Ever again." the girl said turning to leave.

"Hold on, I'm leaving too." Clarke followed the girl. 

"Clarke wait!" Finn finally spoke. 

"No Finn! Don't fucking touch me. Don't call, don't text, don't come over. I never want to see you again." Clarke turned to leave again. 

"Clarke!" Finn grabbed her by the arm.

Clarke spun around and punched Finn in the face. He let go quickly as his hands shot to his nose. "I said don't touch me." Clarke had never been so angry before in her life. She took off running as fast as she could. Out of the apartment building, down the street as fast as her legs would allow.

She had never been so angry and humiliated before in her life. How long had Finn been cheating on her? How had she never known? This had to be a dream. A crazy, fucked up dream. If it was a dream, then why wouldn't she wake up?

*THUD*

Clarke ran head first into someone. "Owch what the fuck!?" the other girl said as they both stood up.

Clarke was so not in the mood for this. Not after everything else. Not after Finn. "What the hell? Don't you watch where you're going?" she asked angrily.

The girls eyes widened. Clarke knew that she had come off as a bitch, but at this point she could care less. She was angry and she'd never see the girl again, so why not take it out on her? "Excuse me?" the girl asked.

"You just practically tackled me! Look I've had a shitty day and I don't have time for this. So could you just apologize so I can leave?" Clarke said.

The other girls mouth dropped open. "You have got to kidding me! One, it was accident. Two, it was just as much your fault as it was mine!"

"Whatever. I don't have time for this. Have a good life asshole." Clarke knew she was being unnecessarily bitchy to the girl, but at this point she could care less.

When Clarke got home, she stomped up to her room. Still pissed off about everything that had happened already that day. Raven and Octavia were still in Clarke's room when she got there. Raven could tell by the look on Clarke's face that something was wrong.

"What happened?" Octavia asked concerned.

Clarke felt the tears well up in her eyes. She had tried so hard not to cry. Finn wasn't worth crying over. But her body betrayed her as tears began to flow freely. "I'm going to fucking kill him." Raven hurried over to hug her friend.

"He had another girl in his bed." Clarke cried.

None of the girls said another word as they stood there hugging each other. A knock on the door brought Clarke back into reality. The door opened and Abby Griffin walked in. "What's going on in here?" she asked.

"Nothing mom." Clarke snapped.

Abby did not look convinced but she brushed it off, knowing that Clarke wouldn't tell her anything anyways. "Okay well I wanted to let you know that we're having dinner at the new neighbors tonight. And Octavia, your mother called looking for you." she said. 

"Okay. Clarke I'll see you tonight." Octavia gave her friend one last hug before leaving.

"Dress presentably." Abby said looking her daughter up and down.

Clarke rolled her eyes. "Mom I really don't feel like going tonight." she said.

"Too bad." Abby said leaving the room before Clarke could argue with her. 

Clarke sighed as she flopped down on her bed. "Ugh, she's such a bitch."

"I still don't know how her and your dad ever got together. Papa G is so laid back and relaxed. Mama G is definitely neither of those things." Raven said.

"She apparently hasn't always been that way. I can't imagine her being any other way. Dad balances her out though, she's slightly less bitchy when he's around." Clarke laughed.

"Are you going to be okay?" Raven asked, switching back to the Finn topic.

"Angry and bitter for a while. But I'll be okay. I always am." Clarke replied.

"An angry, bitter Griffin? The world better watch out." Raven said walking out of the room.

Clarke stuck up her middle finger as Raven left the room. She really didn't want to go to this stupid dinner tonight. After the day she already had, Clarke did not want to be around anyone. She just wanted to lay in bed and sulk for a little while longer. 

Instead, Clarke got up out of bed and took a shower. As much as she'd love to mess with her mother, tonight was probably not the best night for it.

A little while later Clarke stood in the living room of her house with Raven, waiting for her mom and dad. "Aurora and the kids are going to meet us over there. You ready?" Abby asked walking into the room with Jake right behind her.

"Let's go." Clarke said walking to the door. Sure enough, when they got outside, the Blake's were walking to the new neighbor's house as well. Clarke hoped this dinner would go by quickly. She really didn't want to be there. 

Abby rang the door bell and they all waited for someone to answer. A young boy opened the door. "Hi. It's good to see you again. Come on in. Dinner is almost ready." the boy said opening the door wider for them to walk in.

It was a really nice house and the boy was very polite. "Austin, it's good to see you again. These are our kids, Clarke and Raven. We told you about them yesterday. And over here, we have Octavia and Bellamy." Abby said smiling.

"It's nice to meet you all. Natalie and Nathaniel are in the dining room. Aunt Sophie is in the kitchen checking on Alex. She made dinner." Austin smiled.

They all followed Austin into the dining room. An older woman walked out of the kitchen with a smile on her face. Clarke smiled briefly but then proceeded to pick at her finger nails, hoping to avoid interaction. She looked over at Austin and whispered, "Where's the bathroom?"

"Down the hall to the right." he whispered back. Clarke hurried down the hall. Her father was saying something that she couldn't hear as she shut the bathroom door and locked it. She didn't really have to use the bathroom. Clarke just wanted to avoid talking to these strangers for as long as possible.

It wasn't that she didn't like meeting new people, and she wasn't always this rude. But she knew how her mother get around new people, and she really didn't have time for the bullshit. 

Clarke took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom. It was now or never. As she walked back to the dining room, Clarke heard her mother asking where she was. "Right here mom, sorry I was using the restroom." she said with a smile. A split second later that smile dropped from her face. Standing right in front of her was the girl from the street. "You!" Clarke exclaimed.

"You?" the girl questioned.

The room went silent. Everyone was staring at the two girls. So the girl from the street was her new neighbor? What the hell?! "So I see the two of you have met." her dad said laughing.

Clarke rolled her eyes. Could things get any worse?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you liked this chapter. Thank you for all of the kudos and comments!! Let me know whether or not you like reading from Clarke's POV as well, or if you'd rather I just stick with Lexa's POV.


	4. Who's Crying Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of dinner and Lexa's first day at work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so many stormy nights  
> so many wrongs or rights  
> neither could change  
> their headstrong ways

Dinner was extremely awkward. The tension at the table filled the room and was nearly suffocating. Abby, Jake, and Aurora really seemed to be getting along with Indra. Lexa was happy that her aunt seemed to have made some new friends. On the other hand, Lexa was not very happy with the fact that Princess Bitchy Face had to be the Griffin's daughter.

Jake and Abby seemed like good people. How could they have produced such an asshole as a daughter?

For a majority of the dinner, Lexa hardly spoke at all. She answered questions if anyone asked her something, but spent most of the night observing everyone else. Lexa noticed the looks between Lincoln and Octavia Blake. It was kind of cute in a sickening kind of way. She also noticed the death glares Bellamy Blake would give Lincoln any time he'd talk to Octavia. He must have a huge big brother complex.

What surprised her the most was Anya. Anya was not a shy person, like not even close. But she seemed off. It took Lexa a minute to figure it out, and when she finally did, she nearly laughed out loud. Raven Reyes. Anya had a crush on Raven! Lexa couldn't wait to tease her cousin about this later.

When dinner was over, Jake offered to help with the dishes. Both Indra and Lexa declined his offer respectfully. Lexa said she'd do them, she really didn't mind. Everyone else moved to the living room while Lexa went to the kitchen to start on the dishes.

At this point Lexa would have done anything to avoid being around Clarke. She finished the dishes fairly quick and started cleaning up the dining room and kitchen. Right as she finished cleaning, Aden came into the kitchen. "Hey, the Blake's and Griffin's are leaving. Sophie wants you to come and say goodbye." he said.

It was still weird hearing Indra being called Sophie. But Lexa followed her brother to the living room to say goodbye to the neighbors.

"Alex! Thank you again for dinner. It was amazing. Next time you all will have to come to our place for dinner." Jake said with a smile. Lexa really liked him.

"Yes, thank you Alex. It really was delicious." Aurora agreed.

"Well thank you. I'm glad you all enjoyed it." Lexa glanced at Clarke, who just rolled her eyes. Lexa wanted to say something, but decided against it.

Indra opened the door to let them out. "Thank you all for coming. If any of you ever need anything, feel free to stop by. Aurora, Abby, you have my number. We'll have to get together for lunch one day." she said.

"Absolutely. And the same goes for all of you. You know where we live." Abby smiled.

They all exchanged their goodbyes then the Blake's and the Griffin's left. When the door was shut, Indra turned to glare at Lexa. "What the hell was that between you and the Griffin girl?" she asked angrily.

Lexa sighed. "I'm really tired aunt Indra. I don't really want to talk about it." 

Lexa could tell that Indra wanted to argue with her, but instead she said "Okay. Thank you again for tonight. You're seriously a lifesaver. Goodnight Lexa."

She was surprised that Indra didn't pick a fight with her. But she wasn't about to test it. So she headed downstairs to her bedroom.

Shortly after Lexa changed into her pajamas, there was a knock on the door. "Come in." she said.

The door opened and Aden walked in. "Hey. You busy?" 

Lexa smiled. "No not at all. Come on in. Is everything okay?"

Aden nodded as he walked over and sat on the bed next to his sister. "Everything's okay. I just wanted to come and get the scoop on Clarke." he laughed.

"Ugh." Lexa rolled her eyes. "Wait, you're on a first name basis with Princess Bitchy Face?" she asked her brother.

Aden laughed out loud. "That's really what you're calling her?"

"Well if the shoe fits. She's horrid." Lexa replied.

"I don't know. She was really nice to me. We talked about video games, and she loves basketball too. She actually said she would help me with my game for when school starts." Aden said.

"But basketball is our thing." Lexa stated.

"Well duh. I figured that she could join us. It might be nice." Aden said.

"Little brother, you are high on crack if you think that me and Princess Bitchy Face are ever going to hang out." Lexa said matter-of-factly.

Aden laughed again. "Okay. So tell me, why the intense hatred for Clarke?"

"Well I was running and we sort of ran head first into each other. I was going to apologize to her but then she went all bat shit crazy. She told me I needed to apologize to her so she could leave. It was incredibly rude. So I told her it was an accident and it was just as much her fault as it was mine. She called me an asshole and then she left. She's a bitch." Lexa explained.

"Ah, okay. Well she was super nice to me. I kind of like her. Plus it's not everyday you find someone who'll stand up to Commander Lexa." Aden grinned mischievously.

"You're such a little twerp." Lexa riffled her brother's hair.

"Lexa stop." Aden squirmed away. "You know I hate it when you do stuff like that." 

"Well you know I hate being called Commander. And I'm not exactly fond of you making friends with my mortal enemy." Lexa replied.

"Okay well I don't see how she can be your mortal enemy when you've only ever met her twice. Maybe she was just having a rough day or something." Aden said. 

"She's a monster, end of story. You can be friends with whomever you want. But I will forever see her as Princess Bitchy Face, and nothing could ever change that." Lexa told her brother.

"Well on that note, I'm going to bed. I love you Lexa." Aden said standing up to leave.

"Goodnight little brother. I love you too." Lexa said as Aden left the room.''

Lexa shut off her light and crawled into bed. It was frustrating that the devil herself had somehow managed to corrupt Lexa's baby brother. But Aden was his own person and Lexa would never tell him who he could and could not hang out with. Lexa just hoped that she wouldn't treat Aden the same way that she had treated her on the street that day.

As she fell asleep, Lexa couldn't help but think about the bitchy neighbor girl.

Sunday morning when Lexa woke up, she slipped on a pair of shorts and a sports bra to get ready for her early morning run. She'd have to start waking up pretty early now that she had a job. She'd be working from 8am to 5pm every day. That meant that if Lexa wanted to keep up with her morning runs, she'd have to wake up by 5:30 every day. She'd run for about an hour, come home to shower, get ready for work, then leave the house by like 7:40am. That was the plan anyways.

Sunday went by fairly quick. There wasn't much going on. Lexa got home from her run, showered, and had a cup of coffee. Then she made breakfast for everyone, Lexa really did love to cook.

Lexa spent the rest of the day reading out on the back deck. She had dinner with her family, helped with the dishes, then headed for bed. She wanted to be nice and refreshed for her first day of work.

The next morning Lexa rolled out of bed at the sound of her alarm. 5:30 came around fast. She got dressed quickly and started on her run. Lexa thought about her first day of work and she was actually kind of nervous. She loved kids and really wanted to do well. As planned, Lexa ran for an hour then headed home to shower.

Lexa dressed in khaki shorts and a black V-neck shirt. She wanted to stay simple, yet somewhat professional. Lexa looked at her watch to check the time. 7:40, right on schedule. She went out to the garage, started her motorcycle, and headed towards Polis Children's Academy.

She stopped at the gas station for a cup of coffee. Jasper was there. "Hey Alex! Ready for your first day?" he asked.

"Hey Jasper. Yeah, I just needed my morning coffee." Lexa laughed. 

"Well the first one's on me." Jasper smiled.

"You don't have to do that." Lexa said reaching for her wallet.

"Alex don't fight me on this. Take your free coffee and go. Let's just not make a habit of it though." he winked.

Lexa smiled. "Thank you. Seriously I appreciate it."

"Not a problem. Good luck on your first day. Don't let the kids kill you or like beat you up or something." Jasper waved as Lexa walked out.

Holding a cup of coffee while driving a motorcycle was not easy, but somehow Lexa managed it. She pulled into the parking lot and took off her helmet.

Lexa walked up to the door and rang the bell. She hadn't gotten a code to get in the door yet. Kortney walked over and opened up the door. "Alex hi! Come on in and I'll get you started on your paperwork."

Lexa followed her new boss into the office and sat down at the table. Kortney brought over a stack of paperwork. "Do you happen to have a pen that I could use?" she asked. 

"I sure do. You can go ahead and fill out your paperwork. I'll get you all set up in our system so you can clock in and out. And I'll get you a door code so you can get into the building. If you need anything let me know. When you're finished, I'll be in my office. Just come on in and I'll take you to your classroom." Kortney explained.

"Okay thank you." Lexa said smiling. She took the pen and started on her paperwork. When she was done Lexa got up and walked into Kortney's office. "I'm finished." she said getting her bosses attention.

"Awesome. I wrote down your door code and your code to clock in. I have already clocked you in so you'll only have to worry about clocking out later. Come on, I'll show you your classroom." Kortney said.

"Sounds good." Lexa followed her boss around the corner into the classroom right next to the office.

There was roughly 10 kids that Lexa could see when she walked into the room. It was still early though so it was pretty normal for there to only be a small amount of kids. "Alex I'd like you to meet your co-teacher." Kortney said loud enough to get the other teacher's attention.

Lexa's mouth dropped open when she recognized the other girl. "Alex, this is Clarke Griffin. Clarke, this is your new co-teacher Alex Fields." Kortney introduced them. "You can learn everything you need to know from Clarke, but if you need anything my office is always open." she said leaving the room.

Lexa thinks about turning around and running out of the room. Could her luck be any worse? Against her better judgment, Lexa walked farther into the room. She tried to think of something to say to the other girl, but nothing came to mind.

"We're getting ready to have breakfast. Most of the kids should be here by 8:30ish or so. When a majority of them are here, we'll do introductions. You can introduce yourself to the kids and parents as they come in if you'd like. Kortney prefers if we write our own letters to the parents that she'll email out. I'd have that done by the end of the week if I were you. We'll go over everything else later." Clarke said catching Lexa off guard. 

Clarke seemed beyond annoyed with the fact that Lexa was her co-teacher. "Okay." was all Lexa said. She really didn't want to lose her new job by doing anything to set Clarke off.

More kids started rolling in and Lexa introduced herself to every one of them and their parents. Breakfast came and went. Lexa helped Clarke clean up the mess. "Okay school agers, I need everyone on the carpet please." Clarke said loud enough for everyone to hear her. 

Surprisingly, the entire class listened immediately and ran to sit on the carpet. They were up to 26 kids and Clarke had mumbled something earlier about having 28 kids all together.

Once everyone was sitting quietly, Clarke spoke again. "Hey guys. Most of you probably remember me from the last few summers. But I do see a few new faces this year. Also we have a new teacher with us this year. Also we have a new teacher with us this year, as you may have noticed. We're going to stick with tradition and go around the room, introduce ourselves, and give three interesting facts about our lives. Ms. Alex, would you like to go first?" Clarke asked smirking at Lexa.

She must have thought Lexa was afraid of public speaking or something. Lexa stood up and smiled at the class. "Hello. I'm Ms. Alex, I met most of you as you were coming in. One thing about me is that I just moved here with my younger brother, my aunt, and my two cousins. Second, I have been to every continent except for Antarctica. And last but not least, I speak Trigedasleng." the kids got all excited about the last thing.

Clarke did not look amused. "Okay, okay class. Settle down, we have a lot of friends to get through." she said trying to get the kids to calm down. 

Again, the class listened to Clarke almost immediately. Lexa was surprised. Each of the kids took their turns introducing their selves and stating facts about their lives.

Finally they go back around to Clarke. "I'm Ms. Clarke. First, I play college basketball for Columbia. Second, I can play 6 musical instruments. And third, I've already been accepted to med school, and hopefully within the next few years I'll be a surgeon." she said.

Interesting, Clarke was following in her mothers footsteps. For some reason, that surprised Lexa.

"Well I think that about does it. Everyone line up at the back door for outside time." Clarke directed them. Then she looked at Lexa. "Make sure to count all of the kids before going outside. You'll be counting for what seems like the entire day. Get used to it."

Ugh, this girl was so infuriating. One of the kids ran up to Lexa before getting in line. "Ms. Alex will you play soccer with us outside?" the young girl asked. 

Lexa remembered her name was Alivia. She began to speak, but Clarke cut her off. "Actually I have to go over a few things with Ms. Alex. Sorry Alivia, she'll be able to play with you guys later." 

Alivia looked upset, but ran to get in line with her friends. "Can it not wait?" Lexa asked Clarke.

Clarke rolled her eyes and ignored Lexa. "Alright boys and girls, you know the rules for the playground. Make good choices." she said opening the door.

Lexa counted the kids as they ran outside. As Lexa walked towards the door, Clarke walked away from it. Leaving it to slam in Lexa's face. Lexa had to take a deep breath before walking outside.

Lexa walked over to where Clarke was standing. "So what do you need to go over with me?" she asked.

"The daily schedule, curriculum, attendance sheets, stuff like that. I'm going to go over this quick. Hope you can keep up." Clarke said.

"Oh I don't think that's going to be a problem." Lexa snapped.

"We'll see about that." Clarke replied rudely. Then she started to go over the schedule. Lexa thought it seemed pretty simple. Curriculum seemed a little more difficult, but Lexa was use that she'd get the hang of it.

By the time Clarke was finished, outside time was over. Lexa was upset that she missed out on playing with the kids.

As the day passed, Lexa had to keep reminding herself that she needed this job. Princess Bitchy Face was really testing her patience. When 3 o'clock rolled around Lexa was thrilled because that meant that Clarke would be leaving.

The classroom door opened up and the little Blake girl walked in. Did her entire neighborhood work here? "See ya later Clarke." Octavia said as Clarke practically rushed out of the classroom. "What's her rush?" she then asked Lexa.

"Probably exhausted. She had a long day of criticizing everything I did today. I feel like she's trying to make me quit." Lexa said annoyed.

Octavia laughed. "I'm sorry. It's really not funny. Just the look on your face is priceless."

"Well I'm glad you find it amusing. Your friend really hates my guts and has no problem showing it." Lexa said setting out plates for snack.

"Yeah well she hasn't really been herself lately. I know that's no excuse for her behavior, and I'm not going to try to make any for her. I'm sorry she's been so rude to you." Octavia apologized.

"You're not the one who should be apologizing. I understand she's your friend, but she really needs a wake up call. It's not okay to treat people the way she does." Lexa replied.

"You're right." Octavia sighed.

"Yeah, I know." Lexa smiled. "Alright everyone, snack time." she announced.

The kids all got up and sat at the tables. "Thank you Ms. Alex. Thank you Ms. Octavia." Alivia said sitting down. There was an echo of thank yous from all of the kids as they began to eat.

For the first time all day, Lexa was happy at her new job. She couldn't wait to teach these kids, and to learn from them as well. There was no way in hell she was going to let Clarke Griffin ruin this for her.

Working with Octavia was so much easier than working with Clarke. She was a genuinely good person. Lexa could definitely see why Lincoln had developed a crush on her. 

Around 4 o'clock, parents started picking up their kids. It seemed like every five minutes a different kid was going home. At 4:50, Alivia and her brother Westin went home. "We're at 16 kids, that's ratio. I'd ask Kortney, but I'm pretty sure you're good to go home." Octavia said.

Lexa walked to Kortney's office. "We just dropped down to 16 kids." she told her boss.

"Then you're good to go. I hope you had a good first day." Kortney said smiling.

"I did. Thank you. I'm just going to grab my stuff and say goodbye to the kids before I leave." Lexa said.

"Alright. I'm actually heading out now as well. So have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow." Kortney said. 

"See you tomorrow." Lexa replied. She headed back to the school age classroom to grab her helmet and backpack. She said her goodbye's to the kids and a few of them even ran up and gave her hugs.

"Have a good night Alex. It'll get better, I promise." Octavia said winking at Lexa.

"Thanks Octavia. You have a good night as well. I'll see you tomorrow." Lexa said leaving. 

Maybe this job wouldn't be so bad. All she had to do was figure out a way to deal with Princess Bitchy Face and her horrible, horrible attitude.

There was no way that they could ever be friends. That possibility was doomed from the start. But there had to be something that Lexa could do... right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. With the Thanksgiving holiday, I've been really busy. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Thank you again for all of the comments and kudos!!


	5. It's All Coming Back To Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We find out why Lexa and her family had to go into Witness Protection.

Lexa's first day at work was definitely interesting to say the least. Aside from Clarke Griffin being a total jackass, Lexa had actually loved it. 

She pulled her bike into the garage and entered the house. Indra was sitting in the living room watching the television. "Hey, how was your first day?" she asked upon seeing Lexa. 

"Overall, not too bad. How was your day?" Lexa asked.

"It was good. I didn't do too much of anything. I sent out my resume to a few places, just hoping to hear back. Anya got a job, I'm not too thrilled about it though. She could do so much better." Indra replied.

"Oh yeah? Where's she going to be working?" 

"She's going to be a bartender. I just don't see why that girl is wasting all of her potential. I swear my daughter is going to be the death of me." Indra sighed. 

Lexa laughed. "I hate to say this, but I think that's a perfect job for her. Can you imagine her dealing with all of the drunk idiots? I'm for sure going to have to stop by her work one night and just watch her interacting with customers."

"Lexa do not encourage her. She could be doing so much better." Indra frowned.

"Yeah, but I think that as long as she's happy, it shouldn't matter what she's doing. With everything we have all been through, I think she deserves to be happy. You all do." Lexa said.

"Yeah, well you do too. Don't forget that. None of this was your fault." Indra said placing her hand on Lexa's shoulder.

Lexa just nodded. She really didn't feel like talking about this. Not now. Not ever. "I'm going to go sit outside for a bit. I'll be back in to make dinner."

She got up and headed out back before Indra could say another word. Lexa walked down the stairs on the deck and out to the back yard. She sat on the grass, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Long day?" someone asked, startling Lexa.

"Oh, hi Mr. Griffin. You scared me." Lexa said when she saw who it was.

"Seriously Alex, call me Jake." he laughed. "You look like you've had a long day, everything okay."

"Yeah, it was my first day at work. It was a pretty good day for the most part, there were just a few surprises that I wasn't exactly expecting." Lexa told him.

Jake smiled. "Yeah I heard about that." Lexa looked at the man surprised. "Clarke told us. She didn't seem exactly happy about it. Which means that she probably gave you a rough time. I just wanted to check and see how you were doing."

Lexa smiled. Jake really was a good man. Every time she spoke with him Lexa couldn't help but wonder if Clarke was adopted or something. How could someone as genuine and kind as Jake Griffin produce someone like Princess Bitchy Face. "She's definitely something. I just don't understand why she hates me so much. Our little run in the other day was an accident and she completely flipped a lid over it."

"That wasn't your fault, she's just using you as a scapegoat." Jake said.

"For what? I mean, she doesn't even know me." Lexa asked.

"As much as I'd love to tell you the details, that's just not my place. I will tell you this though, my daughter is not a bad person, and this is not like her. Yes, she's hard headed and stubborn, but she's not cruel." he replied.

Lexa had so many snide comments she could have said, but she respected Jake Griffin. So she decided to keep them all to herself. "It's just really hard when I have to work with her every day and she's just so rude. I like this job and I'd really like to stay there, I just don't know if I can stay there if she's always going to work against me instead of with me."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I did have a talk about that with her. Not sure how well it stuck in her head, but we did talk about it. Just do me a favor, don't give up yet. My daughter is not this person, frankly she hasn't been herself for a long time. I know I don't really know you and you don't really know me, but I just have this feeling about you. You're a good person. It would do Clarke well to be around someone who won't just put up with her shit like everyone else in her life does." Jake said.

"Oh I can tell you now that I won't be putting up with any of her shit." Lexa laughed.

"I never believed that you would." Jake smiled. "Now enough about my daughter, how are you adjusting to the move?"

Lexa was a bit surprised by the question. Nobody had really asked her that and genuinely wanted an answer. "It's been hard to be honest. Things are way different than they used to be and it's really hard to adjust to that. Not that this is a bad place to live, it just doesn't really feel like home." she said honestly.

"Well I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Home isn't just a place, it's not four walls and a roof over our heads. It's a feeling, it's being around people who love you and would do anything for you. It's feeling like you belong. Sometimes it's just two eyes and a heartbeat. Home isn't where you're from. Home is what you make of it." Jake smiled.

Lexa looked over at Jake, who was still smiling at her. That was the first time that anyone had said anything that actually meant something since moving here. "You're a really smart man, has anyone ever told you that?"

"Only every day of my life." he joked.

Lexa laughed. "Thank you Jake, for the first time since moving here I actually feel like everything is going to be okay. You give really good advice."

"I'm also really good at dad jokes." he winked making Lexa laugh harder.

"I believe that. But seriously, thank you." she smiled.

"Any time kiddo. Well I better get back home. Almost dinner time, Abby's at work so I'm cooking." Jake said standing up.

"Thanks for the talk Jake. We'll have to do it again sometime. So long as your daughter doesn't murder me first." Lexa joked.

"It'll get better. Night kiddo, and good luck tomorrow." Jake winked before heading back to his house.

For the millionth time, Lexa wondered how a man like Jake Griffin could spawn the devil herself. Maybe he was right, maybe things would get better.

Lexa got up off of the ground and headed back inside of the house. "I am a grown adult, I can work wherever I want to!" she heard her cousin yelling when she got inside. Maybe she had spoken too soon. 

"But a bar? Really Anya? Don't you think that this is beneath you?" Indra asked her daughter.

"No mom! It's not. I was forced to move here, half way across the country! I didn't want this, I didn't want any of this. But now I'm stuck here. I like bartending, it's fun, and I'm making money. So why is this such an issue for you?" Anya yelled.

Lexa got closer to the living room to hear what they were saying. "Anya, I just want us to live an ordinary life. We have been given a second chance, and I just don't want to see you waste it." 

"A second chance? A second chance!! That's what you think this is? This is not a second chance. We were forced to leave our old lives, lives we were happy in. Being a part of Treekru was the best part of my life. Yeah, I didn't agree with everything that was going on, but so what. I was happy, Lincoln was happy. He was going to be a fucking doctor, and now what is he? Nothing. And Lexa, she was next in line to be Commander of our people. Do you understand what that means? She could have made a difference, she could have changed the world. Now look at her. She's not Lexa. Not anymore." Anya shouted.

"People died Anya. Your father, both of Lexa and Aden's parents. Lexa was supposed to be next. They would have never stopped coming after her. She would have always been in fear for her life. What were we supposed to do? Stay there? Let them pick all of us off, one by one? Is that the life you really wanted to live?" Indra asked her daughter angrily.

"We could have figured it out. We always have before."

Lexa finally decided to step in. "I wanted to leave. It was my choice. Not your mothers."

Anya quickly turned to look at her cousin. There was a fire in her eyes. "Are you fucking kidding me!? You're the reason we're all here? Everything is always about you Lexa! You could have been great, and instead we're stuck here. You didn't think to talk to any of us, to ask us how we felt about it? Selfish Lexa, I guess that's something that will never change. You're a joke, oh great Heda Lexa. I'm so done." Anya left the room with a dramatic bow.

Lexa turned to look at her aunt. "Why did you just lie to her? You know that you didn't want to leave. You wanted to stay and fight back. I'm the reason that we left." Indra asked.

"I'd rather her hate me for this than you. You're the only parent she has left. Just go along with it. It's what's best for all of us." Lexa replied.

"For the record, I do agree with her on one thing. You would have been a great Commander." Indra said.

Lexa nodded her head. "Well there's nothing we can do about that now. I think I'm going to skip dinner tonight and just go to bed. I'm kind of exhausted. Goodnight Indra."

"Goodnight Lexa." 

This whole situation was a mess. Lexa never wanted any of this either. There were things about her old life that she was happy to be away from, but she couldn't deny that she'd rather be there. She could do so many good things there. Here, not so much.

Lexa climbed into bed, still thinking about everything that had occurred that day. Everything was a mess. As she closed her eyes, Lexa thought about her whole life, about how this had all started.

\------------------  
(Flashback)

There were 12 families, they didn't like to be called gangs and preferred to be called Kru's, but essentially gangs were what they were. Each family owned their own parts of the city. For the most part, everyone stuck to their own area's. Each Kru had their own leader's, however there was only one Heda.

Heda, or the Commander, was chosen by what their people would call "the spirit". It was supposedly the spirits of all of the other Commanders together. The spirit inside each Commander would essentially tell the current Commander who would replace them, should they pass on. The spirit would do this by choosing several members of the population, and having them come to meet with the present Commander. The Commander would lay his or her hands on each of the members and part of the spirit would be transferred into who would become the next Commander. This was called the conclave. Heda would be the leader of the entire coalition, they were there to keep the peace and to make the tough decisions.

If someone were to kill the Commander and forcefully take the spirit, it is said that that person would become the next Commander. 

This was just the way things were, the way things had always been. Only Azgeda, the Queen family, had an issue with this. They thought that they should be the leaders of the coalition, not some spirit. They were sneaky in their ways, trying to take control.

It was everyone's fear that someone from Azgeda would become the next Commander. They would start a war until everyone bowed to them, and they controlled everything. Only the spirit would know who the next Commander would be, and when the spirit chose, that was law.

Lexa Woods was a predominant member of Treekru. Her father was the head and was widely respected among the other Kru's. She had a pretty great life, a good head on her shoulders, and all of the makings of a great leader. So it was no surprise when she was one of the nine members chosen by the spirit to be a part of the conclave.

It was the morning of the conclave and Lexa was beyond nervous. She was the first member of the Woods family to ever be a part of the conclave. "Lexa calm down, everything is going to be okay. Should the spirit choose you, you will be a fine leader to our people." her father said grabbing her hand.

"He's right Lex, you would be an amazing Heda. You have a kind heart, and you have no problem making the right decisions. You would do whatever it takes to protect your people." Lexa's girlfriend, Costia, said.

"You make this all sound easy. If I become the next Commander, everything will change. I will no longer just be Leksa kom Treekru, I will be Heda Lexa. Leader of our people. I will be in charge of the entire coalition. My life, and everyone's lives around me will change drastically." Lexa replied.

Lexa's mother entered the room. "It's time." she said.

Lexa took a deep breath and stood up. She followed her mother out of the room and down the stairs to the car that was waiting for them. Her whole family was there her parents, her aunt and uncle, her cousins, baby brother, and girlfriend. All of the people she loved the most were right there beside her. That is what gave Lexa the strength to continue on. 

They pulled in front of the building where the Commander was waiting for Lexa to arrive. She was familiar with a few of the other members of the conclave, but not all of them. Lexa looked at her family one last time before getting out of the car. "I'll see you in there." she said trying to keep a straight face.

As soon as she walked in a man came up to her and said, "Leksa kom Treekru, follow me." 

Lexa followed the man to the huge stage, where each of the other members of the conclave were already there waiting. She walked over to where the man guided her and kneeled down, as everyone else was doing. Her heart was racing and she began to sweat. She couldn't even hear the words of the man who was speaking to everyone. The next thing she knew, the Commander was walking out onto the stage.

He said a few words, which Lexa didn't hear. She was far too nervous for this. What if the spirit chose her? What would happen then? As if on cue, the Commander walked up to the first initiate with his eyes closed and placed his hand on her head. This continued on down the line until Lexa was next. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and the Commander placed his hand on her head.

Lexa never really believe the story of the spirit until that moment. As soon as the Commander placed his hands on her, she felt it. The rush of the spirit entering her body. The voices of all of the Commander's that came before. It was like all of the air was sucked out of her and a new life was thrust into her. 

The entire room went silent. There were hundreds of people in the building and not a one of them said a word as the Commander reached out his hand for Lexa to take. She took his hand and stood next to the Commander. "The spirit has chosen. Your next Commander, Leksa kom Treekru. Heda Lexa." The Commander said. Then he turned to face Lexa, and in front of everyone kneeled down in front of her. The rest of the room followed suit.

Lexa was taken into a back room with the Commander as he began explaining to her the duties she would have as the next Heda. Lexa listened very carefully as the Commander spoke. "I can already tell, the spirit chose wisely." he said bowing to Lexa before leaving the room. 

Lexa was still in shock. She was the next Heda?! Her family entered the room. There was a lot of hugging and a lot of excitement. Lexa was too caught up in the initial shock to even realize what was going on. 

Over the next couple of weeks Lexa began her training as Commander. It was rigorous work and often took up much of her days. 

One day, Lexa was out on her morning run, when someone yelled her name. Stopping her in her tracks. Nia Queen, head of Azgeda. "Ms. Queen, to what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked.

"I think you know." She said with an evil smirk.

"Let me guess, you want the spirit?" Lexa asked sarcastically.

"You would be correct in your guessing. When the full power of the spirit enters you, I want you to give it to me." Nia stated matter-of-factly. 

Lexa laughed. "You and I both know that I can't just give you the spirit, it doesn't work like that. Take your threats elsewhere." Lexa turned to walk away.

"I don't think you want to walk away from me right now." Nia shouted as Lexa continued her run.

Lexa ignored her and kept running. Nia Queen was always full of threats. But unless she had finally figured out the secret of the spirit, there was no way she could get her hands on it unless that's what the spirit wanted. She ran for another hour before heading back to her house. 

The moment she stepped foot inside her house, Lexa knew that something was wrong. "Mom, Dad!" she yelled.

There was no response. Lexa ran into her father's study, he wasn't there. Then she ran to her mother's art studio, she wasn't there either. That was when she heard her aunt's voice, "Lexa..."

That was when she knew for sure that something was wrong. "Indra, what happened?"

"You might want to sit for this."

"No! Just tell me, what happened!"

"It's your parents, they were on their way to a meeting...your uncle was with them. There was an accident. I am so sorry." the rest of what Indra was saying melted away. 

Lexa knew that this was no accident, she knew that the Queen family was behind this. This would not stand. They were trying to start a war. Well if it was war they wanted, then it was war they would get. Lexa grabbed the keys to her motorcycle and ran out the door, she heard her name being called but she ignored it.

The whole way to the Queen residence, Lexa couldn't stop thinking about their earlier interaction. She shouldn't have taken Nia so lightly. When she got to the house she marched up the stairs to the front door. She banged on it loudly. Ontari Queen answered the door. "Well hello Heda Lexa, we've been expecting you." she smirked sarcastically.

"Where is your mother? Take me to her! NOW!" Lexa yelled.

"Seems like someone isn't in a very good mood." Ontari stated.

"NOW ONTARI!" Lexa yelled again. 

"Fine okay. She's in her office." Ontari said guiding Lexa to where her mother was waiting.

"Ah Lexa, I have been expecting you." Nia said as they entered the room.

"WHY?!" Lexa shouted at the woman.

"Because, you refused to listen to me. I told you that you would regret it. Are you ready to listen to me now?" she answered.

"I can't give you what you want, you know that's not how it works! Are you mental?!" Lexa yelled.

"If you would have stayed and listened to me, you would've learned that I know how to remove the spirit." Nia replied.

"You what?"

"You heard me."

"You know that I'll never let you have the spirit. Do your worst Nia. You'll never be in charge of the coalition." Lexa said storming out of the room.

Lexa was beyond heated. She would do everything in her power to make sure that Nia never got what she wanted. Lexa couldn't go home. Not now. So she went to the next best thing.

"Lexa! There you are, your aunt has been looking all over for you!" Costia said as she opened the door and saw Lexa standing there. She opened the door wider to let Lexa inside. "Everyone thought you went after Nia Queen."

"I did. She did this Cos. I can't let this stand." Lexa said.

"Lexa Woods! Have you lost your mind? Why would you go see the one person who clearly wants you dead? Especially alone! What is wrong with you? You could have been killed." Costia exclaimed.

"I had to know why she did it. She wants the spirit Cos. She said she's figured out the way to remove the spirit, making her the next Commander. I can't let that happen. She can never be allowed to possess the spirit." Lexa said.

"I agree with you. But I think that you need to go home, be with your family. Be with your brother. Come on, I'll go with you." Costia said grabbing Lexa's hand.

For the first time since hearing about her parent's and uncles deaths, Lexa broke down and cried. Costia held her until she cried out all of the tears she had left in her. Then she stood up, wiped her eyes, and nodded at Costia. She didn't have time to mourn. As the future Commander, she had to do what was best for her people. "Let's go." 

Lexa gave Costia her extra helmet and they headed back towards Lexa's house. On the way back, Lexa noticed that someone was following them. She decided to take a detour to the house. The car was still following her. "Shit. Costia, hold on. Someone is following us." she said. 

Costia wrapped her arms tighter around Lexa's waste as Lexa picked up speed. The car sped up as well. That was when Lexa heard the gunshots. She swerved around the corner, hoping to evade her follower. The gun shots continued and Lexa turned another corner. She was less than a mile away from home. She was almost there. 

One more gunshot sounded and she felt the bike lurch. "Costia?" Lexa asked concerned.

"Keep going, we're almost there." Costia replied. She sounded fine. But regardless, Lexa still hurried back to her house. She drove up the drive and through the front gates, knowing that whoever was following her, would not follow her that far. As soon as the parked the bike she hopped off and helped Costia off as well. "Lex..."

They both looked down at Costia's hands, which were covered in blood. "Cos, you were shot!" Lexa said laying Costia on the ground. She rolled her over and lifted up her shirt to see where the bullet had hit her. The blood was pouring out so Lexa placed her hands on the wound to try to stop the bleeding. "Somebody help!"

"Lex. Stop, it's okay." Costia said trying to turn herself over. 

Lexa tried to stop her, but she knew that there was nothing she could do. "Costia please don't leave me." she cried.

"Lexa, I love you. Don't let this break you. Don't let this be the reason you give up. You fight. Keep fighting and never stop. You're...going to...be a great...Commander. I...love..." there was a slight intake of breath and Lexa knew that she was gone.

Lexa thought that she had already cried all of her tears out, but she was wrong. The tears began to fall down her face. "Yu gonplei ste odon. Ai hod yu in." she said as she held Costia in her arms. 

Anya and Lincoln came running in the garage, "What's going on?" Anya asked.

They saw Costia and Lexa on the ground. "Shit. Anya call 911, now!" Lincoln said running over to them. 

He got down on his hands and knees to check for a pulse. "Don't bother, she's gone." Lexa said still in tears.

The police and an ambulance showed up to the house shortly after. The police asked a thousand questions, but Lexa had no words. That was when Echo Teles showed up and offered them a deal. A way to escape their life and start somewhere new. Lexa had denied the offer, but apparently Indra had other plans. 

They were told that they would have to leave that night, they couldn't say goodbye or talk to anyone. As far as everyone else was concerned, their whole family would be dead by the end of the night. That way, the Queen's wouldn't be able to follow them or hurt any of them ever again.

Lexa wanted to argue with them, she wanted to tell Indra that she was wrong for doing this to all of them. That they needed to stay and fight. But at this point, Lexa had lost all of her will to fight. What was there even to fight for? And that's how she found herself sitting in a little white room, angry that she was there and wondering how it had gotten this bad.


	6. House Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monty and Jasper invite Lexa to a party at their house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Between work and the holiday's I've been super busy. Being an adult sucks sometimes. I hope you all enjoy the new chapter, thanks for reading!!

Lexa's first week at work was definitely interesting. Clarke still hadn't eased up on her. Making passive aggressive comments, criticizing everything Lexa did.

Lexa found herself counting down minutes until Octavia would show up to relieve Clarke. Octavia was great with the kids and a lot of fun to work with. She was tough, never let the kids walk all over her. But she knew how to have fun while teaching, it was admirable.

Anya hadn't said two words to Lexa since the blowout Monday night. Lexa wasn't surprised. Anya was stubborn and could hold a grudge.

One time, when they were younger, Anya refused to speak to anyone but Lexa for two weeks. Two whole weeks! Lexa wondered how long Anya was going to freeze her out this time.

It was Friday and Lexa was so happy to be off of work. She made her way to the gas station after clocking out. It became a ritual of sorts. Every day when she got off of work, Lexa would go to the gas station to see Jasper and Monty.

"Alex! I see you survived your first week of work!" Monty said when Lexa walked into the building.

Lexa smiled. "Of course I did. How has your day been? Anything interesting happen?" she asked.

"Just the usual. What are you up to tonight? Any plans?" Jasper asked.

"Nope. No plans, why what's up?" Lexa asked.

"Monty and I are having a small get together at our place this evening. You should definitely stop by." Jasper said.

"Yeah sure, is it cool if I bring a couple of people?" Lexa asked.

"Of course. Here's the address." Monty said, slipping Lexa a piece of paper.

"See you guys later then." Lexa said leaving.

A party sounded interesting. The plan was to invite Lincoln and Anya, if Anya would talk to her that is. 

Maybe she'd ask Jake what he thinks. Their nightly talks had become an every night thing. I was nice and Lexa really liked Jake. He kind of reminded her of her father. 

Like clockwork, when Lexa got home Jake was out back doing whatever chore he claimed he had to do. "Hey Jake, how's it going?" Lexa asked.

The man looked up smiling. "Alex, I'm glad to see that you made it through your first week relatively unscathed."

"Clarke and I haven't killed each other yet. So I'd say it was a pretty good week. Though I can't say the same about here at home." Lexa said.

"Natalie still not talking to you?" Jake asked.

"Nope. She's still pissed. I got invited to a party tonight and I was going to see if her and Nate wanted to go with me but the fact that she's not speaking to me kind of ruins that idea." Lexa said.

"She's family. She'll forgive you eventually, you just need to give her some time." Jake said sympathetically.

"I don't know, she's pretty stubborn." Lexa went on to tell Jake about the time when Anya refused to speak to anyone for two whole weeks. 

"Oh, she's one of those people. I have three of those people living in my house." Jake laughed. 

"Do you have any advice?" Lexa asked.

"Nope, you're pretty much screwed." he laughed harder.

"Ha, ha. Very funny. You, Jake Griffin, are of no use to me." Lexa joked.

"DAD? DAD!" They heard Clarke yelling from inside the house. 

"I guess that's my cue. Good luck with your cousin. I'm sure everything will work out." Jake said before heading back to his house.

"Night Jake. Thanks." Lexa made her way back into the house.

When Lexa entered the house, she saw Lincoln in the kitchen. "Hey Lexa. How's it going?"

"Pretty good. I'm glad you're here. How would you feel about a party tonight?" Lexa asked.

"Party? Where?" Lincoln asked with a mouth full of food.

"You remember me telling you about those two guys I met that work at the gas station by where I work? They're having a small get together and I thought it would be cool if we went." Lexa told her cousin.

"Sure, you want to invite Anya?" Lincoln asked.

"I want to, but I still don't think she's speaking to me yet." Lexa replied.

"Well she's in your room right now. Said something about needing to talk to you." Lincoln said.

"Seriously Linc! You couldn't start with that?" Lexa ran downstairs to her room. She heard Lincoln laugh as she nearly fell down the stairs in her hurry to get to her room.

Sure enough, when Lexa opened her bedroom door, there was Anya. Laying on Lexa's bed, playing on her phone. She sat up when Lexa came in. "So, mom told me the truth." Anya finally said breaking the silence.

Lexa sighed. "I told her not to do that."

"Why would you do that? Don't you think that you've been through enough? Why would you take the brunt of my anger too? You know how I can be." Anya said.

"Because, I do know how you can be. I just didn't want you to be angry with your mother. She's all you have left. I'd rather you be angry with me than with her." Lexa replied.

"Why do you do that? You're so selfless all the time." Anya said.

Lexa smiled at her cousin. "Because it's my duty. If I don't do it, then who will?"

"I'm sorry for what I said about you. I was just angry, I didn't mean it." Anya offered an apology.

"Don't apologize. Everyone's a bit on edge. This wasn't what any of us wanted. But it's what we got and now we have to make the best of it." Lexa said.

"For the record, I was right about one thing. You would have been a damn good Commander." Anya confessed.

"Well as much as I appreciate the sentiment, being the Commander just isn't in the cards for me. Not in this lifetime." Lexa said softly.

"Don't you still feel the spirit? Isn't a part of it still inside of you?" Anya asked curiously.

Lexa took a deep breath. "Yes a part of the spirit is inside of me. I feel it all of the time, calling me back home. But what can I do? I'd rather not talk about it." 

"Sorry." Anya didn't know what else to say.

"Anyways, I got invited to a party tonight. Lincoln is coming, you in?" Lexa asked changing the subject.

"Yes! I got dibs on shower!!" Anya pushed Lexa out of the way and ran upstairs.

Lexa laughed at her cousin. She was glad that Anya was speaking to her again, but hoped she wasn't too mad at Indra. 

This party would be a good way to meet new people and hopefully get her mind off of everything. From the way Jasper and Monty talked, their friends were a lot of fun. 

Since it was a house party, Lexa opted to dress simple. She didn't wasn't to look like she was trying too hard. Black skinny jeans, and a grey tank top with her favorite leather jacket.

She hurried upstairs to meet Lincoln and Anya. Jasper said the party started at 8:30pm and it was already 8:25pm. She didn't want to show up too early, that would be weird.

"Mom said we could take her car. I'm not going to drink, so I can drive us all home." Lincoln said grabbing the keys.

"Okay. Their place is only like ten minutes away, so luckily it's not too far." Lexa smiled.

"Let's show these newbies how Treekru parties." Anya said excitedly.

"Anya, be good. We're not Treekru here." Lincoln laughed at his sister. 

"Yeah Anya. We're Alex, Natalie, and Nathaniel. Please do not fuck things up tonight." Lexa pleaded with her cousin.

"Sha Heda." Anya mock saluted.

"Shof op Anya." Lexa rolled her eyes. This was going to be an interesting night.

When they got to Jasper and Monty's house, Lexa walked up first and rang the door bell. The door flung open and Jasper stood there with a huge smile on his face. "Alex, you made it! Come on in." he said excitedly.

"Jasper, these are my cousins Nate and Natalie." Lexa introduced them. 

"Welcome! Come on in, make yourself at home. Everyone is in the kitchen. Raven is bartending tonight, which means super strong drinks for everyone. We take turns, every two weeks we have a small get together like this and one of us is the chosen bartender for the night." Jasper rambled on.

Lexa couldn't help but laugh at the boy. They followed Jasper into the kitchen where Monty ran up and hugged Lexa. "Hey Alex! Glad you could make it!"

"Thanks. Monty, these are my cousins Natalie and Nate." Lexa said.

"Hey everyone, stop what you're doing and pay attention. Guys, this is Alex and her cousins Natalie and Nate. They just moved here and Jasper and I have deemed them worthy of attending our get together." Monty announced to the party.

"Well hey strangers. Fancy meeting you here." a familiar face walked up to them.

"Octavia! What are you doing here?" Lincoln practically shouted. 

Lexa tried not to laugh at her cousin, while Anya made no attempts to hide her amusement. "Ha! Smooth bro, really smooth." 

"Don't be a bitch." Lexa grabbed her cousins arm and led her over to the counter where Raven was bartending. Of course, it was her neighbor Raven.

"Well hey neighbors. Need a drink?" Raven asked with a sly smile.

"Hmm, well I bartend for a living, I'm not sure you can meet my expectations." Anya winked at the girl.

"We'll see about that." Raven smirked. 

"Could you not? I just need a drink, I don't want to see you and my cousin flirting with each other." Lexa said with fake disgust. 

Raven laughed as she made Lexa and Anya's drinks. "Drink up, you're going to need it." she said with a knowing smile.

Lexa took a drink. It was strong, but surprisingly good. "Oh? And why is that?" she asked. 

Raven smirked again. "Because, the president of your fan club just walked in and is heading this way." 

"Who?"

"Rae, pour me a drink and make it strong." Lexa heard the girls voice behind her.

Seriously? Could she not get away from this girl? Of course she was friends with Monty and Jasper. Lexa should have put it together when she saw Octavia and Raven there. Raven was stifling a laugh, and again Anya refused to contain her amusement. "And I thought this night couldn't get any better." Anya laughed.

Lexa turned around to see Clarke heading straight for them. "You? What are you doing here?" Clarke asked angrily. 

"Monty and Jasper invited me. Trust me, I had no idea you would be here or else I would have never agreed to come." Lexa replied. 

"Of course. Monty and Jasper, always bringing home strays." Clarke scoffed.

Anya opened her mouth to say something but surprisingly Raven spoke up first. "Clarke, I love you, but you need to calm your shit. I think we all get it, you hate each other, but the insults and passive aggressive comments have got to stop. Be adults damn it." she shouted before handing Clarke a drink and motioning for her to go in the other room. 

"You know, I think that I'm just going to go." Lexa said taking one last drink before setting her cup down and heading for the door. 

Lexa was almost to the door when she felt a hand grab her arm, stopping her. She turned around to see her cousin standing there. "You are not leaving." Anya said firmly.

"I really don't want to have to deal with this tonight. It's bad enough I have to deal with her piss poor attitude all week." Lexa told her cousin.

"Why are you letting this girl get to you? That's not like you at all. She's only acting the way she is to get a rise out of you. She's playing a game, play it better." Anya said.

Lexa let that roll around in her mind for a second. Maybe Anya was right. If Princess Bitchy Face wanted to play games, then Lexa would show her how it's done. Clarke Griffin had no idea what she was in for. "Fine, I'll stay."

Anya had a huge smile. "Now that's more like it!" she said excitedly.

They headed back to the kitchen together. "Everything good?" Raven asked.

"Yeah. So what do you do for fun at these little parties? Sit around and talk?" Anya teased.

"Ha! You have no idea what you have gotten yourself into." Raven laughed. "Dining room, now."

Lexa followed them into the dining room, where everyone was standing in a circle around a ping pong table with no net. There were a bunch of shot glasses with clear liquid inside of them.

Lexa quietly counted how many people were at the party, twelve. "As most of you noticed, we have some newbies in our midst. Before we get started, everyone just go around and say your name. Lame, I know, just do it. Then we can finally begin." Octavia said when everyone was finally in the room.

One by one, everyone took their turns saying their names. Lexa was surprised to find out that she knew more than half of the people there. Harper, Maya, and Murphy were the only three that she didn't recognize.

"Okay, now that that bullshit is over, we're going to start out the night with a short game of shot roulette. As tonight's bartender, I also have choice of games." Raven turned to look at Lexa, Anya, and Lincoln. "You three know what shot roulette is, right?"

"You have shot glasses filled with a mix of water and some form of clear alcohol. Usually when we played, we numbered the shots one through six, roll the dice and do the shot it says to do." Lincoln spoke up.

Anya and Lexa nodded in agreement. "Okay good. Since we have a perfect 12, we separate into two groups. We'll each have our own sides of the table." Raven pulled out a bowl with crinkled up pieces of paper in it. "Everyone take a piece a paper, it's how we'll decide on teams. Team one on this side of the table and team two, on that side. Pretty self explanatory."

Lexa pulled a number one. As everyone moved to their respective sides of the table, Lexa turned to see who was in her group. Raven, Jasper, Murphy, Harper, and of course, Clarke fucking Griffin. "Let the games begin!" Octavia said excitedly.

"So, Raven and I brought the extra bottle of alcohol and a pitcher of water to replace the old ones when drank. They're on the coffee table. After you do your shot, fill it back up with whatever you feel like, then put it back on the table." Jasper added. He seemed like he was already drunk.

"Newbie, why don't you go first." Murphy said handing Lexa the dice.

Not wanting to seem weak, Lexa took the dice from Murphy and rolled it on the table. Three. She picked up the shot and downed it quickly. The shot burned as it went down. "Ooh, vodka." Lexa shook her head and replaced her shot.

"Damn Alex, you took that shot like a champ." Jasper said excitedly.

"Yeah well I was really hoping that it would just be water." Lexa laughed.

"Don't worry new girl, you'll probably get water next time." Murphy laughed as well. 

Murphy was way wrong. The next three shots Lexa did were all vodka. "Shit Alex, you have no luck." Harper said as Lexa downed her fourth shot of the night.

"Clearly. Vodka is definitely not my drink of choice." Lexa said, chasing her shot with the drink that Raven had made her earlier. Which was now empty. "My drink is gone." 

"You want another one?" Raven asked. 

"I think I'm going to get a beer, if that's okay?" Lexa asked.

"I can get it, I have to take some of this trash to the kitchen anyways. We're getting ready for double decker king's cup." Raven replied.

"I can help." Lexa said grabbing her cup and following Raven into the kitchen.

"Why don't we just drag the cooler into the dining room, save a lot of people from making a lot of trips." Raven laughed.

"You're smart." Lexa said. She was really starting to feel those shots.

"So I've been told. I'm sure everyone has made it to the living room by now. I'll grab the cards and bottles of alcohol if you grab the cooler." Raven replied.

Lexa picked up the cooler of beer and followed Raven into the living room. Bellamy and Murphy pulled Raven to the side, so Lexa kept walking and sat down on the floor next to Anya. She grabbed a beer from the cooler and popped the top off with ease. 

"Alex, that wasn't a twist off top." Octavia said with a look of shock on her face. 

Anya, Lexa, and Lincoln just laughed. "Nate, I thought you weren't drinking tonight?" Lexa looked at her cousin, who had clearly been drinking.

"Uhh..." Lincoln looked like a deer in headlights. 

"Well, it looks like we're either walking or taking a taxi." Anya laughed.

At that moment, Raven came back into the room. She looked incredibly annoyed. Murphy and Bellamy were no longer with her. 

"Well we were going to play double decker king's cup, but now that we have less people, we can play with one deck." Raven sat down. Nobody questioned where the two boys went.

While Raven got the game set up, Lexa began to look around the room. Clarke was sitting quietly, drinking a beer. She had barely said two words since Raven had called her out. 

"You okay?" Anya asked, startling Lexa.

"Yeah sorry, just zoned out for a moment there." she replied.

"Here's the rule sheet, have you played king's cup before?" Monty asked the three newbies.

"We have, but different people have different rules when they play. So it's nice to have your rules written down for everyone to read." Lexa smiled.

Lexa saw Clarke roll her eyes, but she decided to ignore it. For the first time since moving here, Lexa actually felt normal. She was having fun playing games and hanging out with these people. Clarke Griffin was not going to get in the way of that.

Lexa watched quietly as Raven shuffled the deck of cards and placed them on the table. "Clarke, you can go first." Raven said when she was done.

Clarke smiled as she picked up a card from the table. "Five, hmmm..." Clarke said with a sly grin.

Lexa had to take a quick look at the rules. Fives were the rule cards. "Clarke please take it easy on us." Harper joked with her friend.

Clarke laughed out loud. It was the first time that Lexa had really heard the other girl laugh. "You can't call anyone by their first name for the rest of the game. Last names, middle names, or nicknames only." she finally said after a minute of thinking. 

They continued around the table, everyone drawing their cards and then doing whatever their specific card directed them to do. Lexa had quite the buzz going on. Raven had just dumped a large portion of her drink into the king's cup. Lexa prayed that she wouldn't draw the final king. "Two." she said out loud, picking up the card.

"Go ahead, two shoes, give the drinks out to your cousin's like you have the entire game." Clarke said rudely causing the entire table to pause and look between the two girls. Clarke had been calling Lexa two shoes since she had made up the nickname rule. Lexa had no idea why or what it meant, but she knew that it was probably something bad.

"You know what Princess, why don't you go ahead and take both drinks." Lexa shot back. The girl was getting on Lexa's last nerve.

"Whatever you say, two shoes." Clarke smirked taking two very big drinks from her cup.

"Why do you keep calling me two shoes? What the hell does that even mean?" Lexa finally snapped.

"Oh, no reason." Clarke said with mock innocence.

"No, spit it out Princess. You've been calling me two shoes all night, and knowing you it's probably a dig at me. So what the hell does it mean?" Lexa asked rudely.

"Alex..." Anya whispered with a look in her eye. Both girls were drunk, Clarke seemingly more so, and Anya didn't want her cousin to do something she would later regret.

"No, she's been nothing but ignorant since we met. So let's hear it princess." Lexa looked back to Clarke. 

"You really want to know?" Clarke asked.

"Spit it out Griffin!" Lexa said annoyed.

"You act like you're so much better than everyone else, you walk around like you own the place, and you're kind of a goody two shoes." Clarke shot back.

Anya's drink shot out her nose and mouth, she laughed so hard. Raven hopped up quickly to get a towel for the girl, who was still laughing. "Shit, I'm so sorry." she said to Monty and Jasper who looked confused as hell.

"Why is that so funny?" Clarke asked, clearly annoyed by Anya's antics.

Lexa smirked. "My cousin has been called a lot of things, but I have never ever heard her called a goody two shoes before." Anya laughed harder.

"Well that's hard to believe." Clarke said. 

"You know nothing about me." Lexa said calmly.

"Yeah, let's keep it that way." Clarke stated firmly.

"Fine by me." Lexa replied.

"Good!"

"Great!"

The room was silent as the two girls glared at each other. Raven walked in and broke the silence. "What the hell is going on?" she asked handing Anya the towel.

"Nothing. I'm going to get going. I have stuff I have to do tomorrow. Thanks for inviting me Monty and Jasper. It was nice meeting you Harper and Maya. Nice seeing you again Octavia and Raven. You two think that you can make it home?" Lexa asked looking at her cousins.

They both nodded but neither of them actually said anything. Lexa stood up to go. "See you later Alex." Monty said with a small smile. 

Lexa grabbed her jacket and headed towards the door. She had to get out of there. Clarke Griffin was the most infuriating woman that Lexa had ever met. She definitely gave Nia Queen a run for her money.

She decided to walk home, the fresh air would do her good. Maybe help sober her up for a bit. 

After walking for what seemed like forever, Lexa finally made it home. She was so tired, she didn't even bother changing out of her clothes before collapsing on her bed and passing out. 

The next morning Lexa got up and dressed for her morning run. She had a slight hangover, but nothing she couldn't handle.

Plugging her headphones into her phone, Lexa began her run. Normally she would start with a brisk jog, but not today. Today she ran at full speed, running until her legs burned. 

After being out for more than an hour, Lexa finally ran home. When Lexa got back into her neighborhood, she saw Clarke out in her driveway playing basketball.

Lexa stopped for a moment to watch the girl play. She was surprisingly good, though Lexa would never admit that out loud.

Clarke took a shot, which missed and the ball rolled out into the street and directly towards Lexa. She picked up the ball and tossed it back to Clarke without a word.

"Thanks." Clarke mumbled. 

"You're welcome." Lexa replied.

The girls stood there awkwardly. Clarke opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it quickly.

Lexa nodded to Clarke before heading back into her own house. She took a quick shower before heading upstairs to see how her brother was doing. She knocked on Aden's door before going in.

"Hey bud. How's it going?" Lexa asked when she walked into the room.

"Hey sis, I'm alright. How was the party?" Aden asked.

Lexa rolled her eyes. "It seems I am unable to escape the presence of Princess Bitchy Face. It's like she's everywhere I go."

Aden started laughing "Wait, Clarke was at the party?"

"Yes. They were all her friends. I can't catch a break. She's everywhere." Lexa stated, clearly annoyed.

Aden laughed harder. "Oh come on, she's really not that bad. Have you actually tried talking to her?"

"Not that bad?! She's a monster! She's a rude, inconsiderate, bossy, asshole!" Lexa snapped.

"Come on Lex, she can't be that bad." Aden said.

"I don't really want to talk about her anymore. Can we talk about something different?" Lexa asked. 

"Yeah. Sure." Aden replied.

"So how are you doing with all of this? I know it's hard." Lexa said. 

"I miss my friends, I miss mom and dad, I miss Tris. I miss everyone. Everything. I know that I've been keeping a brave face, but this is hard Lexa." Aden broke down.

"I'm sorry buddy. I didn't know that you felt that way. Why did you never tell me?" Lexa asked her brother. 

"This is just really hard Lexa." Aden cried.

"I know buddy, I know." Lexa said as she held her brother as he cried. This was not what she wanted for her brother, for any of them. This was not the life they were supposed to be living, and Lexa was powerless to do anything about it.


	7. *not a new chapter*

Hey guys, I know this isn't the next chapter just yet but it is finished and will be posted sometime Saturday. I just wanted to run something by you all really quick. I was thinking of turning this fic into a series. Most of you all probably think Clarke is being a total asshat in this fic, which is partially true, so I thought about writing it in Clarke's POV as well. Maybe if you heard the story from Clarke's perspective it might help you all to understand why she's acting the way she is.

Please let me know if this is something you would be interested in reading! Thank you all for your comments and kudos, I really hope you are enjoying this story so far and I can't wait for you to see what happens next!!


	8. Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I thought I posted this on Saturday, clearly I didn't. Sorry about that. Thanks for reading, commenting, and leaving kudos! Hope you enjoy the chapter!!

Lexa spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with her little brother. The fact that Aden was in pain nearly killed Lexa. Aden meant everything to her, he was the best thing that had ever happened in her life.

She still remembered when she found out that she was going to be a big sister. She had never been so happy. Now, Lexa would do anything and everything to make her baby brother happy.

Lexa had tried over the course of the weekend, to get her brother up and out of the house. She failed miserably.

So when Monday morning rolled around and Lexa had to go back to work, she wasn't in the best of moods. Her morning run was shorter than usual and her shower was much longer. She didn't even bother to stop by the gas station for her morning coffee.

With everything going on with Aden, Lexa really hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with Princess Bitchy Face and her piss poor attitude.

It seemed as if fate was on her side that day. Clarke seemed different. There were no sarcastic comments, no evil death glares, and no passive aggressiveness at all. They still didn't speak to one another, but it still seemed more civil than the first week.

The day went by quickly and Lexa couldn't have been more relieved. When Octavia showed up, she could tell that something was up. "Everything okay over there?" she asked, helping Lexa put out snack.

"Yeah." Lexa replied.

Octavia could tell it was a lie, but out of respect, didn't push any further. They quickly put out snack and called all of the kids to the table.

The afternoon went by just as quickly as the morning had. Octavia kept trying to make small talk and Lexa could tell that she was dying to ask her something. When they took the class outside, Lexa finally decided to put the girl out of her misery. "What is it?" she finally asked. 

"What is what?" Octavia asked pretending not to know what Lexa was talking about.

"Little Blake, you are not subtle. Like at all. So, what have you been dying to ask me since you sat foot in the classroom?" Lexa smirked at the girl.

"Well I guess there is this one thing.." Lexa had never seen the girl act so shy.

"Well no shit." Lexa said, immediately catching the curse word and covering her mouth.

"Language Alex." Octavia joked.

"Just spit it out Blake." Lexa told the girl.

Lexa was pretty sure she knew where this was heading, but she wanted to hear it from the other girl first. "So... well I guess I was just wondering... Um, what's the deal with your cousin?" Octavia finally spit out.

Lexa laughed. "Natalie's single, why?" she couldn't help but tease the poor girl. It was just too easy.

Octavia glared at Lexa. "Alex, you're not funny."

Lexa smirked again. "I'd like to think that I'm pretty funny."

"Alex." Octavia practically begged.

"Nathaniel is single too, if that's what you wanted to know." Lexa decided to stop teasing.

Judging by the look on Octavia's face, that was exactly what she wanted to know. Octavia opened her mouth to say something else, but was cut short when the door opened and a parent came out. "Devon, Isabella, your dad is here!" Lexa yelled loud enough for them to hear.

The twins came running over as fast as they could. "Bye Ms. Octavia, bye Ms. Alex." They called out. Both stopping to give their teachers a hug before leaving.

"Well that puts us at 16, I'm going to go ahead and leave." Lexa said signing out on the class roster before handing it to Octavia.

Lexa knew Octavia wanted to talk to her more about Lincoln, but she really wanted to get home. She didn't want to be late for her nightly talk with Jake Griffin. "See you tomorrow." Octavia said.

Lexa quickly said goodbye to the kids and Octavia before going back inside to clock out. "Have a good night Alex. Oh, and don't forget about the field trip tomorrow." Kortney called from her office. 

Shit. Lexa had forgotten. "I didn't." she lied. "See you tomorrow." Lexa said leaving.

She hopped on her bike and put on her helmet. When Lexa got home she parked her bike in the garage and went straight out back. As always, Jake was out there waiting. "Hey kiddo." he said upon seeing Lexa.

She smiled automatically. "Jake. I'm really glad you're here."

"Where else would I be?" the man said reassuringly. "So, how was work today?"

"Surprisingly, it was good. It was strange not having your daughter on my ass all day, but I'm definitely not arguing." Lexa laughed.

It was so easy to let her defenses down around Jake. He made her feel safe. "Well I'm glad to hear that. I have to say that I'm a bit surprised though."

"Same. But then again, maybe she could tell I was having a rough day and decided to take it easy on me." Lexa replied.

"Why rough?"

"My brother, Austin, has apparently been having a rough time with the move and everything. He is normally so happy and carefree, but now I can't even get him out of his room. I even tried bribing him with basketball, and that's his favorite thing in the whole world. I just don't know what to do. He's my baby brother and it's killing me to see him in pain. I wish I could take it all away, but I can't. I feel powerless." Lexa admitted.

"Alex, you are not powerless. The boy just lost his parents and moved across the country, just like you. Just being there for him is the best thing that you could do for him. If Austin I anything like his older sister, then I have no doubt in my mind that he is going to be more than okay. You are doing the best that you can, and I am sure that he sees that. It just takes time." Jake said.

Emotions took over and Lexa wrapped her arms around Jake to pull him in for a hug. "It takes as long as it takes." she whispered. 

After a moment they pulled apart. "You certainly are wise beyond your years, Alexandria Fields." Jake said with a smile.

"I'm really glad that you're my neighbor. You are honestly and truly a great man and an exceptional human being, Jake Griffin. Thank you... for everything, seriously. I don't know what I would do without you and our nightly chats." Lexa stated.

"Oh I don't know. I think you'd be alright." he replied. "Well kiddo, I'm going to head back inside. Abby is on her way home and I ordered pizza. I should probably make sure that Clarke and Raven haven't eaten it already." 

Lexa let out a small laugh as Jake walked back into his house. She sat outside for a few minutes longer before heading inside as well. 

"Hey Lexa." Lincoln said when she walked into the house.

"Hi Linc. Anya home? I didn't see her bike when I pulled in." Lexa asked.

"No, she had to work tonight. She left a couple of minutes before I heard you pull in. I'm surprised you didn't pass her." Lincoln replied.

"I'm glad she found a job that she likes. She deserves it."

"Yeah, me too. Plus it means our schedules are almost completely opposite, which is so nice." Lincoln and Lexa both laughed at that.

"Hey Linc?" Lexa asked.

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to ask you. What's up with you and Octavia Blake?"

Lincoln froze in place. "You're not going to run back and tell Anya are you?"

Lexa had to roll her eyes. "No Lincoln, I am not going to tell Anya." She totally was.

"I think she's smart, and badass, and gorgeous as hell. Way out of my league. I don't think she's interested though." Lincoln confessed.

For someone who was supposed to be so smart, this boy could be so dumb. Lexa rolled her eyes again. She was so telling Anya. "Hmmm, okay."

"Wait, why? Did she say something? You work with her so you talk to her more that I do. You'd tell me if she said something right?" Lincoln asked quickly.

Lexa thought about telling her cousin the truth. She really did. "Nope. She hasn't said a word. I'd tell you if she had."

"Okay." Lincoln said with a smile as he headed to his room. "Night cuz."

"Goodnight Lincoln." Lexa had to fight to hold back a laugh. She was going straight to hell.

Lexa went to her brothers room to see if he wanted to hang out, but he insisted that he was tired and was going to bed. She knew it was a lie, but decided not to push.

Sleep did not come easy for Lexa that night, the next day was definitely going to be a long one.

The kids were beyond excited for their field trip to the trampoline park. Lexa had been too until she found out that she wasn't allowed on the trampolines. Apparently the company would only pay for the kids to jump since the teachers were supposed to be supervising or some other bull shit. Lexa highly considered paying out of her own pocket, but decided against it.

After hearing all of the rules, Clarke reminded the class to use the buddy system, then sent them on their way. Lexa started walking around, trying to keep an eye on the children as best she could. Clarke seemed to be doing the same.

Lexa decided to go up the stairs to watch from what was called the "Parent Zone". Basically it was just a huge platform hanging above all of the trampolines with a bunch of benches for the adults to sit and watch the kids have fun.

As Lexa watched her kids running around having fun, her mind began to wander. "Alex?" a voice said bringing her out of her trance. She turned around to see Clarke Griffin standing behind her with a slight look of concern on her face. 

"What?" Lexa snapped, maybe a bit too harshly.

"I was maybe thinking we could talk?" It was more of a question than a statement. "I just figured we're on neutral ground right now, and I think this talk really needs to happen." Clarke continued when Lexa didn't reply.

"Okay." Lexa said.

"Okay?" Clarke asked confused.

"Okay, talk." Lexa reiterated. Yeah she was being kind of a bitch, but after everything Lexa was not about to let her guard down. She could tell that Clarke was annoyed by her behavior.

"Listen, you don't like me and I don't particularly care for you. But we have to work together, and apparently my friends like you. Though I'm not sure why." Clarke said angrily.

"I'm not sure where you're going with this Princess, but..."

"Could you shut up and just listen to me for a damn minute?" Clarke snapped.

"Proceed." 

"Look, I know we aren't ever going to be friends, and I am more than okay with that. But I think that we should at least try to be civil. At least at work and with our friends." Clarke suggested.

Lexa was taken aback. She wasn't expecting a truce. Especially not from Clarke Griffin. Lexa still hadn't said anything, so Clarke continued. "Moving to a new town can be hard, especially if you don't know anyone. It's not easy to make new friends. But for some reason, my friends really like you and your cousins. You got lucky with them, they really are the best friends that you could ever hope to have. So, I'm calling for a truce. You and me, we will never be friends. I'm making that very clear. With that being said, I think that we are both capable of being civil with one another."

Lexa looked at the other girl. She wanted to make sure she wasn't just fucking with her before agreeing to anything. Clarke's facial expression never changed. She seemed to be telling the truth. "I can be civil if you can too." she finally replied. 

"So you're agreeing to the truce? I just want to make sure we're both on the same page." Clarke verified.

"Yes. I am agreeing to the truce. We will be civil for the sake of work and our friends. We still have a strong dislike for each other and will never be friends." Lexa repeated.

"Good." Clarke said.

"Good." Lexa agreed. Then Clarke got up and walked away quicker than she arrived. 

A truce? Hmmm, this was definitely going to be interesting. Lexa couldn't help but wonder just how long this truce was actually going to last.  
\---------------

Surprisingly, Clarke stuck to her word about the truce. Over the next week and a half, things at work were a thousand times better. 

Things at home, not so much. Aden was becoming more and more secluded. Lexa hardly even saw him anymore, and they were living in the same house. Things were definitely complicated and all Lexa wanted to do was fix it. Lexa just had to keep telling herself that it takes as long as it takes. Aden would eventually open up to her, she just had to be patient. 

Jake had reminded her of that just an hour ago during their talk. It had been almost two weeks since Clarke had called for the truce, which Jake had also mentioned during their talk. He had told Lexa about when they had first moved to town. Clarke was angry and bitter and alone. Then Monty, Jasper, Octavia, and Bellamy came into the picture. Made her feel welcome, like she belonged. Since then, the group had been inseparable. Jake seemed to think that was why Clarke had a change of heart. 

That nights talk had definitely been an emotional one. For the first time since moving, Lexa had actually cried. They were talking about Aden and she just couldn't hold back any longer. Then of course, Clarke had to interrupt, looking for Jake.

He apologized for leaving but told her to call if she needed anything at all. Lexa headed inside and went straight to bed. 

The next day was Friday and Lexa was out of it all day at work. Clarke seemed to notice and did more than her fair share of the classroom duties.

When Octavia showed up, Clarke whispered something to her before leaving. Lexa assumed that she was warning her.

Luckily, since it was a Friday, most of the kids got picked up early. Which meant that Lexa, in turn, got to leave early as well.

Clarke was outside playing basketball again when Lexa got home. But this time she wasn't alone. Lexa nearly crashed her bike when she saw who it was. 

Aden. Aden was out in the driveway playing basketball with Clarke Griffin. He was out of his room, out of the house, for the first time in weeks. 

A part of Lexa was angry, angry at Clarke for doing what she herself had tried and failed to do. She was angry at herself for failing. Lexa wanted to scream. But she didn't. Instead, she parked her bike and went to her room.

Aden was smiling, Aden was laughing and having fun. How could she be mad that her brother was happy? It shouldn't matter how or why, the only thing that should matter is the fact that he was having fun. But damn it, she was jealous. 

At that moment, Lexa's phone started going off. 

*Group Message*

MONTY: Just a friendly reminder. Party tonight, same time and place as always. I added Alex, Nate, and Natalie to the chat as per request.  
RAVEN: Clarke, O, and I will be there.  
NATE: Nat and I will be there too. Haven't heard from Alex yet.  
JASPER: Alex you have to come!!!  
MONTY: Yeah Alex! Bell is bartender/game master for the night.  
RAVEN: Is she even home from work yet?  
NATE: I heard her pull in.  
NATALIE: Oh she'll be there.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

"Lexa I know you're in there! Let me in!" Anya yelled.

"I'm not really up for a party tonight An." Lexa replied.

"You're really not going to come?" Anya asked through the door.

"I'm really not going. It's been a long week and I just want to stay home and relax." she just wasn't feeling it.

"Fine!" Lexa listened to see if her cousin really had left.

NATALIE: Sry guys. Alex is a no go. I tried.  
MONTY: What? Why?  
JASPER: Yeah, why?

Lexa shut off her phone before she had the chance to read any more. A little while later, there was another knock at the door. "I said I don't want to go." Lexa yelled, thinking it was Anya again.

The door opened. "Lex, it's me." Aden poked his head in the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah of course." Lexa shot up.

Aden walked in and sat on the bed next to his sister. "I'm sorry about the way I have been acting the past couple of weeks. Pushing you away. You didn't and don't deserve that." he apologized.

"Don't apologize to me! I understand buddy. I'm just glad that you're okay now. I was really worried about you." Lexa confessed.

"I was just down. I didn't want to talk about it. I wanted to be strong enough to deal with everything without any help. But I was wrong to shut you out." Aden said.

"I'm just glad you're up and out of your room. How did you end up with Princess anyways?" Lexa asked.

"Well I was on my way to the kitchen when I heard a knock at the door. Clarke was there when I answered. She said we were playing basketball whether I liked it or not and that I had better get dressed. It was actually kind of scary, so I did what she told me to do. And I'm glad I did. I had fun today Lex." he explained. 

"That's great! You really deserve that!" Lexa replied. 

"So do you Lex." Aden told his sister. 

"Thanks buddy." Lexa smiled.

"So why aren't you going to that party tonight?" Aden caught Lexa off guard.

"How did you know about that? It literally just happened." Lexa's smile disappeared.

"Clarke's phone started going off. I guess it was the group chat about the party. She said something about having to get ready but she wanted to play again on Monday when she got off of work." Aden said.

"Okay? But that still doesn't explain how you knew I wasn't going to the party." Lexa replied.

"Oh yeah! Well before she went inside she was reading the messages. One particular seemed to really affect her. She seemed relieved. So I kind of assumed, and I asked her if it had something to do with you. When she didn't answer me, I knew I had my answer." Aden smirked.

"Okay, you are too damn smart for your own good. And to answer your question, I just don't feel like partying tonight. That's all." Lexa claimed.

"Okay. Well I'm going to shower. Bye Lex!" Aden hopped up and ran out of the bedroom. Lexa was surprised that her brother hadn't pushed for more information. But he seemed happy and that's all that mattered.

Since Lexa had gotten off work early, she knew that Jake wouldn't be out back just yet, so she just sat in her room reading until she knew he'd be there. 

Around 7pm, Lexa put her book down and headed outside. "Are you sure you don't want to go tonight?" Lincoln asked startling Lexa. 

"Damn it Lincoln! Could you maybe not sneak up on me? And yes, I'm sure. Are you guys leaving already? Isn't it a little early?" she asked. 

"Oh, yeah. And sorry for scaring you. Raven, Octavia, Anya, Clarke, and I are going to have dinner before the party. We thought it would be smart to get something in out stomachs before drinking." Lincoln replied.

"That's probably smart." Lexa said.

"Yep. Well I'm going to go grab Anya. I really wish that you were coming with us." Lincoln said waiting to see if Lexa would change her mind.

She didn't. "Goodnight Lincoln. Call me if you need anything."

Lincoln left and Lexa went out into the back yard. "Why am I not surprised that you aren't going over to Monty and Jasper's with the other kids?" Jake asked.

"Because you're a smart man." Lexa smiled.

"This is a true statement." he winked. "So what is your excuse this time?"

"To be honest, I don't even have an excuse not to go." Lexa confessed.

"Then why aren't you going?" Jake asked. 

Lexa sighed. "I don't know Jake. I mean I really like them. They've been so kind and accepting, well most of them anyways." Lexa laughed.

Jake laughed as well. "I assume you're talking about my lovely daughter. She's always been one to extend a warm welcome." he said sarcastically.

"Well we've agreed to be civil and so far it's working out. But I don't know, I feel like if I keep intruding on her life it's just going to make things worse. I mean, we work together every day and we're neighbors. So avoidance isn't really something we can do. I just want this to be simple." Lexa said.

"When are things in life ever easy? You shouldn't sacrifice your own happiness to keep someone else satisfied. They all want to be your friend, and I can tell you want to be friends with them too. Go to the party Alex. Be happy." Jake told her. 

"I really do like them. You think Clarke and I can really hang out with the same people and there won't be any drama?" Lexa asked.

"Alex, if you want my honest opinion, I think that you and Clarke would actually get along if you would both get your heads out of your asses. You would be good for Clarke and I think that she would be good for you too." Jake voiced his opinion.

Lexa started to shake her head. "Jake, with all do respect, there is no way in hell that your daughter and I will ever be friends. Our personalities just don't mix well. But I do see your point about making friends with the rest of the group. I think I'm going to go take a shower and go to the party."

"Well at least someone around here listens to me, well sort of." Jake joked. 

Lexa rolled her eyes playfully. "Thanks Jake, I'll see you tomorrow."

Lexa ran back in the house to get ready for the party. She knew she was going to be late, but she figured that nobody would mind.

She showered quickly and got dressed. She was actually excited to see her new friends. Before she left the house, Lexa sent a quick text to Anya letting her know that she was on her way to the party and that she would be there shortly.

The drive was short and Lexa was ready to see her new friends again. She had just parked her motorcycle when she heard the yelling. "Will you please just listen to me?" It was a mans voice.

Lexa didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she wanted to make sure that everything was okay. "No Finn! I don't want to listen and I don't want to talk to you." a girls voice yelled back. It sounded like Clarke.

Lexa moved closer until Clarke and the boy were in her line of sight. "Come on Clarke!" the boy begged.

"Finn just leave. I already told you, I want nothing more to do with you!" Clarke yelled at him.

"You can't make me leave. These are my friends too." Finn snapped. 

"Don't be so sure of that. There was a reason that you weren't invited to the party tonight. You really fucked up. So why don't you do us all a favor and get the hell out of here?" Clarke turned to walk away.

Finn grabbed Clarke by the arm and pulled her back to him. "You can't do this. We were together for four years. We can work through this." 

"Ow Finn, fuck! One, I am my own person and I will do whatever the hell I want to do. Two, we were together for six years not four. And three, if you don't let go of me I swear that you'll only live to regret it." Clarke snapped.

Finn gripped her arm tighter. Lexa couldn't just sit back and watch any longer. "She said to let her go." she said firmly.

"Why don't you mind your fucking business." Finn snapped at her.

"I said let her go." Lexa said.

Finn let go of Clarke and started walking towards Lexa. "And who the hell do you think you are?"

"Doesn't matter who I am. What matters, is that you keep your damn hands to yourself before I rip them off and shove them down your throat." Lexa was heated.

This Finn guy was a real piece of work. He had a cocky look on his face as he took another step towards Lexa. "Okay, listen here bitch..."

*CRACK*

Lexa punched Finn in the face, blood instantly spurting from his nose. "Now that, was no way to speak to a lady."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lexa could have sworn that she saw Clarke smirk. Clarke walked over to Finn, whose hands were not holding his nose, trying to stop the bleeding. "Just leave before you make things worse. We're over. We've been over. Just leave me alone and stay out of my life."

Finn mumbled something as he got in his car and drove away. "You okay?" Lexa asked Clarke.

"You didn't have to do that." Clarke replied,

"I know." Lexa said before they both walked up the steps to join the rest of their friends inside.


	9. Heart Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the comments and kudos! You guys are awesome! I hope you enjoy the new chapter (:

When Lexa and Clarke had walked into the party together, without Finn, they had gotten questioning looks from all of their friends. They decided to just brush it off, though Lexa promised to tell Anya about it when they got home. 

Lexa was glad when Anya got called into work, she thought her cousin would forget about what had happened at the party. She thought wrong.

Bright and early Sunday morning the sound of someone banging on her bedroom door woke Lexa from her slumber. "Ugh! Go away!" she yelled. 

"Not a chance. I'm coming in." Anya said opening the door.

Lexa rolled her eyes as her cousin barged into the room and flopped down on her bed. "That door was locked."

Anya smiled mischievously. "I know. I picked it."

"Why are you such a pain in the ass?" Lexa asked covering her head up.

Anya pulled the blanket off of her cousin. "You owe me an explanation for the other night. You said you weren't coming, then a couple of hours later I get a text saying you changed your mind. Then, when you get there, you come in with Clarke Griffin, who you hate. Both of you looking pretty pleased with yourselves. So, what the hell happened?"

Lexa sighed as she sat up. "Well, when I got there I heard yelling from outside Monty and Jasper's place. I wanted to make sure that everything was okay so I snuck up on the people who were arguing. I realized that it was Clarke and some douche named Finn. I was going to walk away, but then Finn grabbed Clarke pretty forcefully. You know me, I am so not okay with that. As much as I can't stand Clarke Griffin, I couldn't just sit by and watch. Anyways, one thing led to another, Finn called me a bitch, so I punched him in the face. Pretty sure that I broke his nose." Lexa said feeling pretty pleased with herself.

"No shit. I can't say that I'm surprised. You've always been a bad ass. So what did Clarke say? Are you guys friends now? What's going on?" Anya bombarded her with questions.

"She told me that I didn't have to stand up for her, I said that I knew that, and that was it. We're still not friends and nothing is going on. I still don't particularly like her." Lexa confessed. 

"Well I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. Or at least from the way that I see it. That girl really does not like you." Anya laughed.

"Yeah, yeah I know. So now you know the story. Could you please leave so that I could get back to sleep?" Lexa asked kicking Anya off of her bed. 

"Whatever grumpy ass." Anya stood up and left the room.

Lexa slept most of the day Sunday and all through the night. Monday went by rather smoothly and she even got to leave work a little early. When she got home, Aden was outside playing basketball with Clarke. Lexa felt a pang of jealousy seeing her brother having so much fun doing something that was supposed to be their thing, with someone else.

Lexa parked her bike and began to head in the house. "Hey two-shoes!" Clarke yelled, stopping Lexa in her tracks. She turned to look at the girl. "Your brother says that you're pretty good. Do you want to play?" She asked.

At first Lexa was surprised. She wasn't expecting the invitation. Clarke stood there looking when Lexa realized that she hadn't actually answered the question. "Um, sure. Just let me go get dressed really quick." 

Lexa ran inside quickly to get dressed. She threw on a sports bra, a cut off shirt, and a pair of basketball shorts before heading back outside to her brother and Clarke. "Hey sis! I'm really glad that you decided to play with us." Aden smiled when he saw his sister.

"So what are we playing?" Lexa asked.

"We were planning on warming up with a quick game of horse." Aden replied. 

Clarke hadn't spoken to Lexa since asking her to play. "Sounds good to me."

The game was not quick, not at all. Lexa had seriously underestimated how good the other girl was. Aden had already gotten "horse" like 30 minutes ago and neither of the girls had even gotten an H. "Okay you've been playing for over an hour. It's clear that neither of you are going to win this game." Aden finally said.

Lexa stopped and looked at her brother. He was right. This was getting to be ridiculous. She turned to look at Clarke. "What do you think? Want to call it a tie?" 

"Oh hell no! That is so not happening. But seeing as this game seems to be never ending, I challenge you to a game of one on one. Shots are one point, two behind the arc. First to 11 wins." Clarke suggested.

"I was hoping that you'd say that. You can start with the ball. You're going to need all of the help that you can get Princess." Lexa smirked.

"You two are overly competitive. I'm going inside to get a drink. Don't kill each other while I'm gone." Aden joked.

Lexa ignored her brothers comment as they began the game. Clarke was no joke and had definitely brought her A game. Aden had eventually made his way back outside and was watching the girls play. The score was 10 to 10, next basket would win. Lexa had possession and she was certain that she was getting ready to win.

That was until Anya's voice ripped through her. "Alex! Alex, you need to get in here! Like now!" She yelled.

Lexa dropped the ball and ran as fast as she could into the house. She ran smack dab into Anya who was standing in the kitchen. "What's wrong? What's going on?" Lexa asked concerned.

"You have to see this." Anya chuckled.

"See what?"

"Shhh." Anya slid the screen door open as quietly as she could and snuck out on the back deck, motioning for Lexa to follow her and stay low. "Look." She whispered pointing into the Blake's yard.

Lexa's eyes wandered to where Anya was pointing. Her mouth dropped open when she saw Octavia Blake in a passionate lip lock with Lincoln.

Anya nudged Lexa and gave her a look that said "watch this". Then she put her thumb and middle finger in her mouth and cat called as loud as she could. 

Lexa could have died from laughing so hard and she was pretty sure that Lincoln could have died from embarrassment. Anya and Lexa ran into the house dying of laughter.

Lincoln was probably going to kill them later, but it would so be worth it.

\-------------------------

The next few weeks flew by and everything seemed to be going well. Lexa and Clarke had never finished their game of one on one, but Lexa figured that it would be best to leave basketball to Clarke. Aden had asked her to play a few times but she had always come up with an excuse why she couldn't.

Things we're going so well with Clarke that she didn't want to risk it by spending too much time together.

Then one day, when Lexa got to work, Clarke wasn't there. All Kortney would say is that Clark called early that morning and said she couldn't make it to work. Lex I didn't think anything of it. Everyone called out of work at some point or another. 

But then, Octavia didn't show up to work either. That was a little weird. Then again, Clark and Octavia were best friends. They had probably called out to go hang out or something. 

Lexa was asked to work late because Octavia was not there to close the room. Lexa agreed, though she wasn't exactly thrilled about it.

After her shift ended, Lexa raced home as fast as she could. She was late for her talk with Jake. Yes, those were still happening.

When she got home, Jake wasn't out back like usual. Damn. Lexa sat out back for a little longer, hoping Jake will turn up. He didn't. She paced back-and-forth in the yard, debating on what to do.

After a minute Lexa took a deep breath and walked up to the front door of the Griffin house. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer. No one did. 

OK, what was going on? Lexa ran back over to her house and inside to find Indra. Indra was pacing back-and-forth in the living room. "Lexa! There you are! Where have you been?" Indra exclaimed upon seeming Lexa. 

" Indra, what's going on? Where are the Griffin's? Why do you look so worried? What happened?" Lexa asked freaking out.

"Lexa, maybe you should sit." Indra motioned towards the couch.

Lexa's mind automatically went to the worst possible scenarios. "Indra, what the hell happened?" 

Indra sighed. " Jake Griffin has had a heart attack. Everyone is at the hospital with him right now." Indra kept talking but Lexa couldn't hear a word she was saying.

It was like the air was sucked from her lungs. She had to get to the hospital. She had to make sure that Jake was going to be OK. 

Lexa grabbed her home and ran out the door. She had on her bike and spit out of the driveway, heading towards the hospital.

Would like that got there, she ran to the front desk and immediately asked for Jake Griffin. "Are you family?" The nurse asked.

Lexa opened her mouth to say something rude but she heard a voice behind her speak first. "Alex! Over here!" It was Anya. 

Lexxel was really confused as to why I knew it was there, but at that moment all she was worried about with Jake. "Where is he? What's going on?" Lexa asked.

That was when Clarke realized that she was there. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen, she look like she hadn't stopped crying all day. "What are you doing here?" She didn't sound angry or upset, just broken and confused.

"Is he okay? What's going on? Have you heard anything?" Lexa asked, ignoring Clarke's question.

Clarke opened her mouth to reply when suddenly her face distorted into a look of anger. Lexa turn to see what Clarke was looking at. 

Lexa rolled her eyes, of course the douche bag Finn was there. "You have no right to be here! No right!" Clarke yelled at Finn.

"I just came to see how he's doing. You can't stop me from doing that." Finn said clearly unaffected by Clark's anger. 

"The Hell I can't." Clarke yelled.

Finn took a step towards Clarke and attempted to grab her hand. It was like Lexa's feet had a mind of their own because she took a step towards where Finn and Clarke were standing. Finn took notice. "Oh what? You going to have your girlfriend punch me in the face again?" He asked sarcastically.

"Again?" Lexa heard someone behind her ask. But she ignored them.

"I'd leave if I were you Finn. It's pretty clear that nobody wants you here. Plus, from what I've heard, there are quite a few people in line waiting to punch you in the face." Lexa said before Clarke could speak.

Lexa didn't mean to keep jumping to Clarke's defense, it wasn't really even about her. Lexa just couldn't stand Finn and his cocky ass attitude. 

"Alright, I've had enough of your mouth, you stupid fucking dyke..."

*CRACK*

For the second time, Finn's hands rushed up to his bleeding nose. This time Lexa wasn't the one doing the punching. This time it was Clarke. Clarke who look like she was about to kill someone.

She started to run for Finn, ready to attack them again. But Lexa wrapped her arms around Clarke's waist to hold her back. "Let me go! I'm going to kill him!" Clarke screamed, trying to break free from Lexa's grasp.

Lexa did the only thing she could think to do. " don't get kicked out of here. Your father needs you. Douche bag Finn is totally not worth it." She whispered in Clarke's ear, hoping to calm her down.

By this point Finn had already left and everyone was standing in shock after what they had just witnessed. Clarke had calmed down and was now sobbing uncontrollably in Lexa's arms. 

This was the most vulnerable that Lexa had ever seen the other girl. Then Clarke did something that surprised everyone. She turned around and wrapped her arms around Lexa's neck In a tight embrace. Lexa just held her as close as she could as she cried, all their friends and family sat back and watched still in shock from all the events that had just taken place.

They only pulled apart when a doctor entered the hallway clearing his throat, getting their attention.

Clarke went to her mothers side and Lexa joined Anya. "Marcus, what's going on?" Abby asked.

"Jake is going to be fine. Surgery went well and he's in recovery right now. This was a close call and he's definitely going to have to take it easy for a while. But he's okay, and that's all that matters right now." He replied.

Lexa let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Jake was going to be okay. At that moment, there was nothing else that mattered more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter was quite a bit shorter than the others, but I have a reason for that. I still hope you enjoyed it, regardless of its length!


	10. Way Down We Go

After about a week, Jake got to go home. He had to take it easy and try to stay as relaxed as possible. Lexa went over to visit every day. Jake had jokingly apologized for missing their nightly talk the night he had his heart attack, Lexa just shook her head. That man was a mess. 

It was the beginning of July and the summer seemed to be flying by. Things had changed drastically since they had first moved to town. Lexa had even played basketball with Clarke and Aden a few times. 

One day after work, and her visit with Jake, Lexa went to Anya's room to talk to her cousin. She hadn't spoken to her in a few days and Lexa wanted to catch up and make sure that she was okay. 

The music was playing in Anya's room when Lexa knocked on the door. There was no answer. Lexa knocked again, and again there was no answer. Lexa assumed that Anya just couldn't hear over the sound of the radio, so she turned the door knob and slowly started to open the door. She immediately wished that she hadn't. Anya was in fact in her room, but she was not alone. There on Anya's bed, with Anya's head between her legs, was Raven Reyes. "Oh dear god. What the fuck!? Ew!" Lexa slammed the door and ran down stairs as fast as she could.

That was it, Lexa was officially blind. She wanted to pour bleach in her eyes. Seeing Anya so...indisposed, was something that Lexa had never wanted to observe. A few minutes later, there was a light knock on Lexa's door. "Go away!" she yelled.

The door opened slowly and Anya walked in. "Hey." she smiled, obviously amused.

"Ugh, please just go away." Lexa said, completely embarrassed.

Anya smiled. "Look, I think that maybe we should talk about what you saw."

"I think that is probably the worst idea you have ever had. Please, just go." Lexa said.

Anya ignored her cousins request and ventured closer to Lexa's bed. "Okay look, we're both adults and clearly this is uncomfortable for you, but we're talking about it anyways. Raven and I are..."

"Sleeping together. Trust me, I know." Lexa interrupted.

"No you big dumb ass. Well I mean, yeah we are, but that's not what I am trying to tell you. Lexa, Raven and I are dating." Anya said seriously. 

"Oh." Lexa said surprised. "Like dating, dating?"

"Okay first, what does that even mean? And yes, we are dating. Like in a relationship, and I really like her. She makes me happy. She makes moving here bearable for me." Anya confessed.

Lexa took a moment to process what her cousin had just told her. "So you and Raven? And Lincoln is clearly dating Octavia, I have to say that I am a little bit surprised."

Anya laughed. "Well you could always date Clarke Griffin." she joked.

Lexa was not amused. "Yeah, you're not funny. Princess Bitchy Face and I will date when hell freezes over."

"You're seriously still calling her that? Haven't you guys been getting along better since the whole 'Great Hospital Beat Down of 2016'?" Anya asked.

"'The Great Hospital Beat Down of 2016'? That's what you're calling it?" Lexa asked.

"Yeah, Raven came up with it. We're working on her naming capabilities." Anya laughed.

Lexa rolled her eyes as Lincoln knocked on the door and walked in. "Oh, hey. You're both in here. Anya, did you ask her yet?"

"You might want to wait for a response before just walking into someone's room in this house." Lexa replied, still traumatized from walking in on Anya and Raven.

Lincoln looked at the girls confused and Anya just laughed. "Our dear cousin here, walked in on me knuckles deep in Raven Reyes."

"Okay ew. You're my sister and I really didn't need to hear that. Though I am glad that Lexa knows you're dating now. I'm terrible with secrets." Lincoln said sounding disgusted. 

"It was mortifying. But anyways, what was it that Anya was supposed to ask me?" Lexa asked going back to what Lincoln had said when he first entered the room.

"Oh yeah! Linc and I wanted to know if you want to go bowling with us tomorrow night?" Anya asked. 

"Yeah sure. We haven't been bowling in years. Sounds fun." Lexa told her cousins.

"Yay okay! We're going to have so much fun!" Anya said.

"You just said 'yay'. Who are you and what have you done with Anya?" Lexa asked laughing.

"What can I say, great sex can change your life." Anya winked.

"Yuck. On that note, I am going to take a shower. See if I can scrub the vision of you and Raven from my brain." Lexa shuddered again at the thought. 

Anya and Lincoln both left the room laughing at their cousin. Lexa thought it was nice of them to invite her to go bowling. They hadn't really hung out much, with the exception of Monty and Jasper's parties.

The next day Clarke finally came back to work. Lexa figured that she still wasn't in the best of spirits, even though her father had gotten to come home. So Lexa made sure to step it up as much as she could to help lighten Clarke's workload. 

When Octavia showed up to let Clarke go home, Clarke surprised both of them by turning to look at Lexa. "Thanks for today. Have a good weekend." she told her before leaving the room. 

Octavia turned to look at Lexa, obviously confused. "What was that about?"

"I don't know. I mean, I could tell she was a little off today so I kind of took charge so that she wouldn't have to." Lexa replied.

Octavia smiled. "Hmmm, okay." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lexa asked.

"Oh nothing." Octavia sang.

"Okay, you're being weird. Stop it." Lexa told the girl.

Octavia continued acting weird all night. Making jokes that Lexa clearly didn't understand. Lexa just brushed it off and finished her shift without asking what the other girls problem was.

Lexa knew that she was going bowling with her cousins that night, so she hurried to the Griffin house to talk to Jake before going home to get ready. She told Jake about her day and that she was going bowling with her cousins later that night. Jake just listened and told Lexa how he hated being on bed rest. But Clarke, Raven, and Abby refused to let him get up to do anything.

After their talk, Lexa went home to shower and get ready for the night. Lincoln and Anya were in the living room waiting for Lexa to hurry up and finally get ready. "You guys ready to go?" Lexa asked upon entering the room.

"About time slow poke. Mom is letting us borrow her car again, let's get going!" Lincoln said.

"You two are awful excited to go bowling tonight. Is there something that you're not telling me? Everyone has been acting so weird all day today." Lexa asked.

"What? No!" Lincoln said a little too quickly and Anya shot him a death glare.

"What he means to say is, no we aren't hiding anything from you. We just really miss hanging out with you. So let's get going so that we can get a lane." Anya said smiling.

Lexa chose not to argue with her cousin and followed them out to the car. It took about 15 minutes to get to the bowling alley. They walked in and Lincoln said he would go up and get a lane. He came back holding three pairs of bowling shoes. We're in lane 23, let's go." He said with a smirk.1

When they got to lane 23, it appeared that someone else was already on that lane. There were shoes under the seats and names on the scoreboard. "Uh Lincoln, are you sure that you have the right lane?" Lexa asked.

Lincoln smirked again. "Yep, it's for sure the right lane." 

Lexa opened her mouth to protest when Octavia Blake came running up and jumped on Lincoln. "Babe you're here!" she said excitedly. 

Lexa turned to glare at her cousins when she saw Clarke and Raven walk up as well. They had lied to her. What exactly was their plan here? Why didn't they just tell her that Octavia, Raven, and Clarke would be there? Lexa debated calling them out on it, but decided to wait until after the night was over. They were there now, might as well make the best of it. Plus, Clarke looked just as confused as she did. "You ready to get the game started?" Raven asked.

"Yeah let's do this. You're all about to get your asses kicked." Lexa said sitting down to put her bowling shoes on.

Bowling with Octavia, Raven, and Clarke was surprisingly fun. Lexa won every game, with Clarke at a close second. "I'll race you to the car!" Raven said running out the door, Anya hot on her heels. They really were a cute couple, though Lexa would never tell her cousin that. Her ego was big enough as it was. 

Anya was out in the parking lot dancing like a fool when everyone else walked out. She must have won the race. That was when Lexa saw it. A car, driving way too fast for being in a parking lot. Lexa started running towards her cousin, the car was speeding up. "Alex! What are you doing?" Lincoln yelled from behind her.

"Watch out!" Lexa yelled when she realized she wasn't going to get to her cousin in time.

Anya turned to see the car speeding towards her. She closed her eyes and braced herself for impact when she realized that she wasn't going to be able to get out of the way in time. 

It was like slow motion. Lexa could feel herself screaming but couldn't hear a thing. Then, out of nowhere, Raven ran up to Anya shoving her out of the way of the car and she took the hit instead. Raven flew up over the car and landed hard on the ground behind it. The car didn't stop, it sped out of the parking lot quickly. 

"Raven!!" Clarke, Lexa, Octavia, and Lincoln yelled at the same time. All running at top speed towards their friend.

Lexa got there first, rolling her friend over. She immediately checked for a pulse, she didn't feel one. Lexa remembered her CPR training and began compressions. "Call 911!" Lexa yelled at Clarke, who got to them first. 

Clarke instantly pulled out her phone and called 911. Lexa didn't stop performing CPR on her friend until the ambulance got there and the paramedics took over. Lexa looked all over for her cousin. Anya was still on the ground, rocking back and forth muttering something under her breath. "My fault. This is my fault. She saved me, and now she's hurt. All my fault."

"Hey, hey. Look at me. This was not your fault. This was a horrible accident. Just breathe. Everything is going to be okay, but we have to go now. We have to get to the hospital." Lexa said helping her cousin get to her feet.

Octavia and Clarke were bawling their eyes out, holding each other. Lincoln walked over to Lexa. "What are we going to do?" he asked.

"Get them in the car. We are going to the hospital." Lexa said firmly, guiding Anya to the car. When they were all in the car, Lexa spoke again. "I asked the paramedics where they were taking Raven and they said Arkadia General. I need to know where that is."

"That's my moms hospital. Where we went for my dad." Clarke replied.

Lexa knew exactly where that was and sped quickly to the hospital. Abby was waiting in the lobby when they ran in. "They just now rushed her up to surgery. The paramedics said that someone had given her CPR until they got to the scene. Whoever that was, saved her life. So thank you." Abby said looking at the group.

"That was Alex. So is she going to be okay?" Clarke asked her mother.

"They just took her up for surgery, so it's too early to tell. But Raven is a fighter. I'm sure she'll pull through and everything will be alright. You all can wait in the waiting room. I will come and update you all as soon as I find out anything else. And Alex, thank you for saving my daughter. If it wasn't for your quick thinking, I don't know if she would be alive right now. And I don't know what I would do if we lost her." Abby pulled Lexa in for a hug before heading back towards the O.R.

Anya started crying and Lexa walked over to pull her in for a hug. "Shhh. You're okay. She's going to be okay." She helped Anya to a chair and sat her down. Lexa just held her cousin as she cried.

After what seemed like forever, Lexa finally stood up from where she was kneeling in front of her cousin to look around. That was when she saw Monty, Jasper, and Murphy come in. Lexa walked right over to them. "Alex, what happened?" Monty asked. He looked like he had been crying.

"A car was going too fast, it was heading straight for Natalie. Raven pushed her out of the way last second and took the hit herself. It was scary. Raven is in surgery now and Abby said that she would keep us updated on everything that was going on." Lexa explained to her friends.

"Is Natalie okay? She doesn't look so well." Jasper asked. 

"I think she is in shock. I'm worried about her. She's convinced that this is all her fault." Lexa told him.

"What happened to the driver? Were they drunk or something?" Monty asked.

"They didn't stop. Hit and run. They didn't have a license plate and the windows were tinted so none of us could get a description of the driver. I really hope that the bowling alley has cameras outside." Lexa said.

"Well I hope that the cops figure it out. I don't know what we would do if we ever lost Raven. She's like family. She is family. How is everyone doing?" Monty asked.

"Well Natalie is in shock. Nate has Octavia. And Clarke is..." Lexa looked around, but the blonde was missing. "Where is Clarke?"

Monty and Jasper both shrugged. "She wasn't here when we walked in." Jasper said.

"I should probably go check on her." Lexa said, still scanning the room.

"Don't you and Clarke hate each other? Since when do you worry about her so much?" Murphy asked, finally speaking up. His eyes were red too, like he had been crying.

"Since her dad had a heart attack and the girl who has been raised as her sister got hit by a car all within the same month. We don't have to be best friends for me to worry. Clarke has been through way more than anyone her age should have to go through and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Why don't you all go over there and see if anyone needs anything, I'm going to go look for Clarke." Lexa said firmly.

The boys listened to Lexa and she turned to go find Clarke. Lexa wandered all over the hospital looking for Clarke, but she couldn't find her anywhere. 

Lexa was about to give up when she saw a flash of blonde sitting outside one of the side entrances of the hospital. She walked out and saw that Clarke was crying. Lexa sat down next to the girl and placed her hand on her knee to let her know that she was there. Clarke sniffled, wiped her eyes, and looked at Lexa. "Why are you out here?" she asked.

"You just disappeared. I wanted to make sure that you were okay. That's your sister in there." Lexa replied. 

"Why do you keep comforting me? I've been a complete asshole to you. You can't stand me, and yet here you are. Again. You confuse the hell out of me." Clarke said. 

"It's been a rough couple of months for you. As much as I wanted to just leave it be and stay out of it, I'm just not that kind of person. I know what it's like to lose people who mean the world to you. So I wanted to make sure that you were alright." Lexa replied.

"I heard about your parents... I'm sorry." Clarke said genuinely.

"And my uncle, and my girlfriend. All in the same night. So I get it. I understand how hard this is for you. You really shouldn't be alone right now. You should really go back inside, be with your family. They need you as much as you need them right now. You're lucky, you still have your father. And Raven is one tough human being. She'll pull through. Everything is going to be okay." Lexa told the other girl.

Clarke smiled. "You know, I think I was wrong about you." 

"Most people are. If it's any consolation, I think I was wrong about you too." Lexa said helping Clarke to her feet.

"Most people are." Clarke smirked.

The two girls walked back into the waiting room. Bellamy, Aurora, and the rest of the group had showed up and were now sitting in the waiting room as well. Clarke smiled at Lexa quickly before joining her friends.

Lexa walked over to Anya. "Hey. You doing okay?" she asked.

"She has to be okay." was all Anya would say.

"Why don't you come home with me. Change into some more comfortable clothes, get something to eat, and then we'll come back. It's going to be a long night." Lexa suggested.

"No. I'm not leaving. Not until I know that she is okay." Anya said firmly.

Lexa sighed. There was no reasoning with her when she was like this. She shook her head and walked over to Lincoln. "You need to watch her. I'm running home to get clothes and food. I'll grab you something while I'm there. Seriously keep and eye on her. I'll be back as fast as I can." She told him.

"Mochof. I'll keep an eye on her." Lincoln replied. 

Lexa nodded as she turned to leave the hospital. "Alex wait!" she heard as she pulled the keys out of her pocket. Lexa turned around to see Clarke running towards her. "Hey, thanks for waiting."

"No problem. What's up?" Lexa asked.

"Do you mind if I ride back with you. I need to go check on my dad, let him know what's going on. And knowing him, he's going to want to come back to the hospital with us. I might need your help." Clarke asked.

"Sure. I can go ahead and text Austin now and ask him to get the stuff ready for me. That way I can just run into my house, grab the stuff, and then head over to your place to help with Jake." Lexa said grabbing her phone.

She sent off a quick text to her brother, then both girls got in the car and headed back towards their houses.

When they pulled into the driveway, Clarke headed straight for her house. Lexa opened up the door to her house and was nearly tackled by her brother, who was now holding her tightly. "Woah, Aden. What's going on?" she asked. 

Aden started mumbling something that Lexa couldn't understand. Something about messing up. But he was crying so hard that Lexa couldn't understand anything. "Aden, you need to slow down. I can't understand anything that you are saying to me right now." 

Aden took a step back and looked at his sister, tears streaming down his face. "Oh Lex, I messed up so bad. So, so bad."

"What happened Aden?" Lexa asked again.

"I sort of texted Tris." He replied.

"You did what? Why would you do that?" Lexa asked angrily. Tris was Aden's best friend from their old life. The life where they were supposed to be dead. How could he have done this?

"Lex, that's not even the worst part. Oh my god, I am so sorry. I messed up so bad." Aden cried harder. 

"What the hell did you do?! Spit it out!!" Lexa was trying to stay calm.

Lexa... The Queen's know that we are alive. And they know where we are. And I'm pretty sure that it was them trying to kill Anya. They hit Raven, and this is all my fault."

Lexa's heart stopped.


	11. Into The Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has been so long since I've last updated. There has been a lot going on. This chapter is pretty short, but the last two are really long compared to all of the other chapters. I have chapter 12 done and I am almost finished with Chapter 13! Thank you all for sticking with me and I hope you enjoy this chapter!!

Lexa walked out of the house without saying another word. She couldn't believe what her brother had just told her. This was crazy. Now they'd have to be relocated again. She was just now starting to actually like this place. What was she going to do?

Lexa made her way over to the Griffin house, still in shock. She rang the doorbell and waited for Clarke to answer. When nobody answered, Lexa turned the door handle and peeked inside. "Clarke?" she hollered. The house was eerily quiet. Lexa had a bad feeling. "Jake?" she yelled running through the house. They weren't there. What was going on? Where was Clarke and Jake?

That was when Lexa noticed the note sitting on the kitchen table. She picked it up and began to read it.

Hello Heda.  
It's good to see you alive and well.   
How is the family? I see you have made some new friends.  
If you don't want them to end up like everyone else you care about, I highly suggest you surrender yourself to me and give me what I want.  
I'll be in touch.  
-Nia Queen

Lexa threw the letter down and screamed. She wasn't going to run away, not this time. Nobody was going to talk her out of this. She needed to find out exactly how this happened, so Lexa ran back to her house. She found Aden hiding in his bedroom. "Aden, you need to tell me exactly what happened!" she said walking into his room.

"Lex, I am so sorry." Aden replied.

"Stop apologizing. What's done is done. But I need your help. I need to know everything that happened. I have to know everything so I know what I'm walking in to when I go save Clarke and Jake." Lexa told her brother.

"Clarke and Jake?" Aden asked.

"Yes Aden! Nia Queen has kidnapped Clarke and Jake Griffin! Now, I need you to tell me what you know!" Lexa yelled at her brother. 

"Why are you yelling? What's going on?" Indra asked running into the room. Until this point Lexa had forgotten that her aunt was even in the house.

"You should probably ask Aden. He was just getting ready to tell me the whole story." Lexa said pointing at her brother.

"What is she talking about Aden?" Indra asked the boy.

"Well I was feeling really lonely for a while. Before basketball with Clarke. So I sort of texted Tris. I knew she could keep a secret. Or at least I thought she could. The Queen's were threatening her. They said they would kill her family." Aden cried.

"What the hell Aden!? How could you have done this? We need to call Echo Teles, immediately!" Indra started to freak out. Indra started for the kitchen, where she had the U.S. Marshall's number.

Lexa chased her aunt to the kitchen. "Indra, no! They have Clarke and Jake! I have to end this once and for all. They'll never stop. You and I both know this." Lexa said.

Indra looks like she wanted to argue with Lexa, but she doesn't. She sighs. "Okay what do you want to do?"

"I don't know yet. But we need to get back to the hospital. Anya and Lincoln are still there. Plus I have to somehow find a way to tell Abby Griffin that her husband and daughter have been kidnapped, and it's all my fault." Lexa shook her head.

How in the world was she going to tell this woman that her husband, who just had a heart attack, and her daughter were kidnapped. Especially tonight of all nights. She also had to explain that it was her fault that Raven got hit by the car. Abby's whole family could be taken from her all in one night, and it was all Lexa's fault.

Lexa thought long and hard about what she was going to say when they got back to the hospital. And when they got there, she still had no idea. "I'm going to go speak with Aurora. Do you know what you're going to tell them?" Indra motioned towards her friends, who were all sitting in the waiting room.

"The truth." Lexa said walking over to them.

"Alex! What's wrong? Where's Clarke?" Lincoln asked upon noticing Lexa.

"Oh my god, you didn't kill her did you?" Octavia joked.

Lexa didn't smile. "What happened?" Lincoln asked when he realized there was something serious going on.

"Lincoln. The Queen's...they know." Lexa told him.

"Who's Lincoln?" Monty asked, joining the conversation.

Lincoln's eyes went wide and everyone was staring. "Seriously, what's going on right now? And who the hell is Lincoln?" Octavia asked.

"I am." Lincoln whispered.

"No. Your name is Nathaniel. I've seen your drivers license." Octavia stated, very confused as to what was happening.

"No, it's not." Anya said, walking over.

Octavia opened her mouth to speak again, but Lexa interrupted. "There's something we need to tell you all." she said as the rest of her friends gathered around.

Lexa took a deep breath before speaking again. "Long story short. My name is Lexa Woods. Some very bad people murdered my Uncle, parents, and girlfriend all in the same night. We were put into the Witness Protection Program and relocated here. Somehow, the bad people found out that we were here and they tried to hit Anya with their car. Raven getting hit was an accident, but it was my fault. They have kidnapped Clarke and Jake. All they want...is for me. Dead. I can't let them hurt anyone else because of me, so I am going to take their deal so that they'll let Clarke and Jake go. And you will all be safe."

Everyone was staring in a stunned silence. Before anyone could speak, Abby Griffin entered the waiting room. "Raven is still in surgery, but she is doing well. The surgeons operating told me that there is no reason to believe that Raven won't pull through. Why do all of you look like that? What's going on?" Abby asked when she realized something was going on.

Lexa took another breath as she explained her story again, this time to Abby. "I know that you must hate me right now, you all probably do. But I am going to fix this. I promise." 

*Ring Ring*

Lexa's phone was going off. Unknown number. "Hello?" she answered.

"Heda Lexa. It's nice to hear your voice again." It was Nia Queen.

"Where is Clarke and Jake?" Lexa asked firmly.

"Now, now. Is that any way to greet an old friend?" Nia asked laughing.

"Just tell me where they are!" Lexa ordered.

"You're awful demanding. Especially for someone who is in no position to be demanding." Nia stated.

Lexa sighed. "Look, I'll give you what you want. But you need to let Clarke and Jake go, unharmed." 

"I'm glad to see that you have come around. I'll send you the address. Meet me there tomorrow. Oh, and come alone. Have a good night Commander." Nia hung up.

Lexa started to walk away when she felt a hand grab her by the arm. "Al... Lexa, what are you going to do?" it was Abby Griffin.

"I'm going to get your family back. Like I promised." Lexa replied.

"Not alone you're not." Lincoln stepped forward.

"Yes, I am." Lexa shot back.

"No, you're not." Anya stepped forward as well.

"The two of you know I have to do this. It's the only way to make it stop. Plus, who's going to stop me?" Lexa asked.

"We are." Lexa looked over at Octavia, who was stepping forward along with the rest of her friends.

Lexa tried to fight the tears back. "I'm sorry. But I need to do this alone." she walked over to Abby and took her hand. "I meant what I said. I will make sure that your family comes home safe." Then she turned and walked out of the hospital.

As she walked through the parking lot, tears began to fall freely from her eyes. "Lexa!" she heard from behind her. But Lexa wouldn't stop, she couldn't. "Damn it Commander, stop!"

Lexa stopped. Lincoln ran and stood in front of her. "Lincoln you can't stop me from doing this."

"Lexa you can't do this alone. You have people who care about you." Lincoln said.

"Lincoln I can't. Raven is in there fighting for her life because of me. I can't risk anyone else's lives. I won't." Lexa started to walk around Lincoln.

"Well that's just too damn bad." Lexa turned around to see Octavia, Bellamy, and the rest of the group standing there.

"I lied to you all. Put you at risk. I won't do that anymore." Lexa stated.

"Lexa you didn't lie to us. You were in the Witness Protection Program, I think that gives you a free pass on this one." Jasper said.

"You're a part of this group now, finding out your name isn't Alex isn't going to change that." Monty added.

"We love you Lexa, none of us blame you. Being a part of this group means that you're family, and we would do anything for our family. So get your head out of your ass and let us help you. Your name doesn't change shit. And none of us are going anywhere." Octavia said and everyone else nodded in agreement.

"You heard her Commander. I think that you should probably listen." Anya said.

"Take it from me, you won't win in an argument against Octavia." Lincoln joked.

Octavia play shoved him. "So what's it going to be Lexa? Are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

Lexa rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "Fine, let's come up with a plan."


	12. Bleeding Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments and kudos, I am so glad that you are enjoying this fic! I'm almost done with the last chapter and it should be up sometime this week. I have some ideas floating around for another fic, but if you all have any ideas or anything, feel free to message me on 
> 
> Tumblr: alindhorst-23

They spent all night formulating a plan to rescue Clarke and Jake. It was actually a pretty good plan, but Lexa knew that Nia Queen would never stop coming after her. Without all of the spirit, Lexa would not be strong enough to defeat Nia.

After everyone had gone to bed, Lexa snuck outside to make a phone call. She meant what she said about not risking anyone else's lives.

Sleep evaded Lexa that night. After everything that happened in the previous 24 hours, she was surprised that anyone could sleep at all. 

The address Nia had given Lexa was to a warehouse about 20 minutes from the hospital. The next morning, everyone met up at Lexa, Lincoln, and Anya's house. "Lincoln and I already went to the address you gave us. We didn't see Clarke or her dad but we did notice at least five guards coming in and out of the place." Bellamy told the group.

"When did you have time for all of that?" Octavia asked.

"While everyone was sleeping. So, what's going to happen? Are we sticking with our plan from last night Heda?" Lincoln asked.

"Yes. I'm the one they want, so I'll go in through the front entrance. Try to take out as many guards as quickly and quietly as you can Lincoln, Bellamy, and Anya. Search around for Clarke and Jake. O, Jasper, and Monty, keep a lookout in case any unexpected visitors show up. Be ready for anything." Lexa explained.

"Actually, I'm coming with you." Octavia said.

"Like hell you are! This is too dangerous and I won't let anything happen to you!" Bellamy spat.

"Oh shove it up your ass Bellamy. I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. I highly suggest the easy way." Octavia replied.

Lexa had to try hard not to laugh. Octavia had done the same thing to her the night before, and Lexa had caved in. Bellamy didn't respond. "Okay, well now that that's settled, let's get this plan started." Lexa said.

They had decided to take their motorcycles and a car so they could create a diversion when escaping, if need be. Lexa was on her bike, Lincoln had Octavia, Anya had Bellamy, and Monty and Jasper were in the car. The plan was to get Clarke and Jake and get them to the car so Jasper and Monty could get them to safety.

Lexa was the only one who parked right in front of the warehouse. They were expecting her, so it wouldn't be a surprise. Even though Lexa already knew how this was going to play out, she was still extremely nervous. As long as everyone involved stuck to their plans, everything would be fine.

As Lexa made her way to the front entrance, she felt the part of the spirit she had inside of her. It made her feel more confident about this mission.

As she walked into the building, a group of four guards surrounded her. Lexa smiled. This, she was going to enjoy. She was a highly skilled fighter and took pleasure in taking the guards out. Nia probably wouldn't be to happy about that, but in that moment, Lexa couldn't have cared less.

Lexa ran through the building to where Nia said that Clarke and her father would be. Anya and Octavia were already there untying them. "Lexa, this girl is a badass." Anya laughed motioning towards Octavia as they freed Clarke and Jake.

"What the hell is going on?!" Clarke yelled as soon as they took the gag out of her mouth.

"Let's get you to safety and then I'll explain everything. But right now, we need to go." Lexa knew more guards were about to show up and "give chase".

Clarke looked like she was about to argue when a gunshot went off. Lexa grabbed Clarke's hand and they all started running for the exit. "Lincoln and Bell are already outside. They told Monty and Jasper to pull around and be ready for us!" Octavia yelled while running.

They got outside and saw Monty and Jasper. "You two need to go get in the car, right now!" Lexa told them.

"Thank you." Jake nodded to Lexa as he took off towards the car.

Lexa began running for her bike as Anya and Octavia did the same thing. She was just getting on her bike when Clarke came running up beside her. "I'm coming with you." she stated firmly.

"Clarke no, go get in the car!" Another gunshot rang out. "Shit! Fine, get on. But you're wearing my helmet." Lexa said as Clarke got on the bike and put the helmet on.

Lexa sped away as quickly as she could, hoping everyone else was safely on their way to the hospital. She saw all three of the other vehicles as she pulled into the hospitals parking lot. Lexa sighed in relief when she realized that everyone was safe.

Lexa pulled into a parking spot and shut off her bike. Clarke got off first. "What the hell was that?! Why the hell did Natalie call you Lexa, and who the fuck is Lincoln?!" She practically yelled. 

"Clarke, please don't do this right now." Lexa begged.

"Damn it, if you don't tell me what the hell is going on, I'm going to freak the fuck out." Clarke glared at Lexa.

Lexa wanted to tell her that she was already freaking the fuck out, but decided that probably wasn't the best thing to say right now. "Look Clarke, you'll find out soon enough. But for right now, you need to go in and be with your family. I will tell you everything later, I promise." Lexa told her.

Clarke looked like she wanted to argue again, but turned around to walk into the hospital anyways. When they got inside, everyone was in the waiting room huddled around Jake and Abby. "Clarke!!" Abby yelled running over to her daughter, pulling her into a tight hug. "I am so glad that you are okay!" She looked at Lexa. "Lexa, thank you for bringing my family back to me in one piece."

"I made you a promise." Lexa replied.

Abby nodded her head and brought Clarke over to be with everyone else. Lexa watched as everyone around her celebrated. As far as they knew, this was all over. But Lexa knew better. As long as Nia Queen was alive, Lexa knew that this would never end. 

Before she could leave, Lexa had to apologize to Raven. She had gotten out of surgery during the night and was in stable condition. Lexa didn't know if Raven was allowed to have visitors yet, but at this point it really didn't matter.

Lexa walked down the hall to the room Raven was in. She walked over to Raven's bed and took her hand into her own. "I am so so so sorry Rae. This was all my fault. And I know that I can't take it back, but I can make sure that none of you ever get hurt again. I'm going to give myself up to Nia. She'll never stop if I don't." Lexa started to cry. "I'm glad that you're okay. Take care of Anya for me." She kissed Raven on the forehead, then left the room.

She pulled out her phone and called Nia as she left the hospital. "Nia, it's Lexa. I just wanted to say thank you for holding up your end of the deal. I'm booking a flight home tomorrow morning. You'll have what you want as long as you promise to leave my friends and family alone." 

"You have my word. See you soon Commander. Enjoy your last night with the people you love." Nia hung up on Lexa.

This was going to kill her family, but it would be too hard to say goodbye. Plus, she knew that they would just try to stop her anyways. It would be better this way.

She drove back to her house and went to her room. She had grown to love this room. Leaving this place was going to be so incredibly hard. But at least they would all be safe.

Lexa couldn't just leave without a word, so she sat down and started writing a letter explaining what she was doing and why she was doing it. They deserved at least some kind of explanation.

"You left." Someone said scaring the shit out of Lexa.

"What the hell?!" She jumped up.

Clarke Griffin was standing in her doorway. "You didn't say anything. You just left." Clarke repeated.

"What are you doing here Clarke?" Lexa asked.

"You told me that you would tell me everything later. It's later. So explain." Clarke said firmly.

Lexa sighed. "Where do you want me to start?"

"At the beginning." Clarke replied.

Lexa sighed again as she began her story. She told Clarke about the spirit, how she was chosen to be the next Commander of her people, she explained about who the Queen's were and what they wanted. Lexa told Clarke about how Nia had killed her family and girlfriend, and how they had ended up in Witness Protection. As per request, she told Clarke everything. Sparing no details.

"So you have sacrificed everything to keep your family safe?" Clarke asked.

"Not everything. Not yet." Lexa replied quietly.

"You don't think that she is going to stop, do you?"

Lexa shook her head. "No, I don't."

Clarke tilted her head and looked at Lexa sympathetically. At this point, Clarke was sitting next to Lexa on her bed. "For someone so young, you have been through an awful lot."

"Gee I didn't think you cared." Lexa said trying to lighten up the mood.

Clarke's head dropped. "Look, I'm sorry for all of the shit. The truth is, the day we met, I had just caught my boyfriend of almost six years in bed with another girl. I wasn't paying attention when I ran into you and it was easier to be a bitch than it was to apologize. After that, I continued to associate you with Finn and that day. So I held a grudge and decided I hated you without ever getting to know you. Then you showed up at my work and with my friends, I couldn't escape you. Which made me hate you even more. It wasn't fair to you, but at the time I didn't care. The night you punched Finn was the first time I think I finally saw you. You stood up for me, even after the way I treated you. That says a lot about your character."

"I just did what any decent human being would have done." Lexa interrupted.

"What about the way you are with my dad? Or your brother? Or your cousins? Your aunt? I've seen you Lexa. God, it's so weird calling you that. Anyways, the way you take care of them all... you hold them together. When my dad had his heart attack, you were there. You didn't have to be and you were. You care so much about everyone around you. You'd even go as far as turning yourself over to an evil monster just to protect everyone around you. I may be an asshole, but I'm not dumb Lexa. I know what you're about to do."

"I don't know what you're talking abo..."

"Don't even try to lie to me right now. Don't you dare!" Clarke interrupted.

Lexa didn't know what to say. Clarke wasn't dumb. "It's the only way to ensure everyone's safety. I have to do this Clarke. Look at what they did to you and your father. I can't let something like that happen again."

"Gee, I didn't think you cared." Clarke said sarcastically.

"Mockery is not the product of a strong mind Clarke." Lexa replied.

Clarke stood up and began pacing back and forth in front of Lexa. "You can't do this Lexa."

Lexa stood as well. "You can't stop me from doing this Clarke."

Lexa could tell Clarke was getting angry. This was the Clarke that Lexa knew best. "Damn it, don't be an idiot Lexa! You can't seriously believe that this is the only way." She yelled.

"But it is."

"No, it's not." Clarke snapped.

"Since when do you even care about what happens to me anyways?!" Lexa asked, now a bit angry herself.

"Don't even start with that bullshit Lexa." Clarke said firmly.

The girls were standing in front of each other. Both seeping with anger. "I just don't understand why you care so damn much." 

"Do you really want to know?" Clarke asked.

"Yes! I really want to know." Lexa said sarcastically.

"Because! Because I was wrong about you!" Clarke yelled. 

Lexa didn't know how it happened. One second she was standing in front of a very pissed off Clarke Griffin, arguing about Lexa's choices. The next, she was quickly closing the gap between Clarke and herself. Lips met and it was like a bomb had went off in Lexa's chest. The kiss was heated and passionate.

Lexa's body wanted to continue, see where this was going, but her brain screamed at her to stop. "Wait... wait." Lexa pulled away.

Clarke backed off. "Shit. Fuck."

"My thoughts exactly." Lexa took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't even know it was going to happen until it happened. And I'm just, I'm sorry."

Clarke took a step towards Lexa. "I'm not." She whispered.

Lexa closed her eyes and sighed. "Fuck." She said wrapping her hand behind Clarke's neck and pulling her in for another kiss, Lexa knew this was wrong, but damn it felt so good.

All of the emotions hit her like a ton of bricks. This girl, this infuriating woman. How had this happened? Lexa's tongue grazed across Clarke's lips, seeking permission to enter. Which Clarke allowed immediately. Lexa's hands travelled beneath Clarke's shirt, slowly lifting it up. "This okay?" Lexa asked between kisses.

"Yes." Clarke moaned into Lexa's mouth as she lifted her arms, allowing Lexa to take her shirt off. She then started guiding Lexa towards the bed. The back of Lexa's legs hit the bed and she fell back, looking up at Clarke. 

How had this escalated so quickly? Her heart was racing and in the moment, she had never wanted anything more. Clarke leaned down to grab the bottom of Lexa's shirt, lifting it above her head and throwing it in the floor behind her.

Slowly, Clarke leaned down to kiss Lexa again. This felt so right, in a way that Lexa never thought would be possible again. Clarke's tongue traced a line down Lexa's neck, lightly nipping at her pulse point. It was probably going to leave a mark. Lexa didn't care. 

Lexa flipped Clarke over and lowered herself on top of the other girl. She started kissing down her neck, collar bone, chest, all the way down to her pants line. Lexa unbuttoned Clarke's pants, slowly peeling them off of her, kissing her thighs and down her legs on the way down. 

Lexa could see Clarke's wetness seeping through her very ruined underwear. She placed a light kiss on the wetness. "Lexa take them off." Clarke practically begged.

Lexa obeyed instantly, sliding the underwear off and throwing them to the floor. Lexa ran her tongue slowly through Clarke's wet folds. She looked up to see Clarke's face. "You still okay?" She wanted to make sure that this was really what Clarke wanted before doing anything else.

"You're wearing far too many clothes." Clarke grinned mischievously before quickly flipping Lexa over and climbing on top of her. Clarke slowly started peeling off Lexa's clothes as well. 

Soon both girls were completely naked, Lexa moved down to be in between Clarke's legs again. She kissed Clarke's inner thigh, then slid her tongue across her clit. Clarke moaned loudly. 

Lexa took her time, studying every inch of Clarke's body. Finally, she took mercy on Clarke and dragged one long finger through her wetness. "Lexa please." Clarke whispered.

"Please what?" Lexa teased.

"Fuck me."

At those words Lexa slid one finger deep inside of Clarke. Clarke almost screamed. "Oh fuck!!" Lexa added another finger, pumping in and out at a steady pace. Lexa's tongue finds her clit and she continues to thrust in and out of Clarke. 

Clarke was screaming, and using a lot of profanity. Lexa didn't stop. She pushed harder and faster, she could tell that Clarke was getting close. Her walls were pulsing against Lexa's fingers. "Come for me baby." Lexa whispered in her ear.

"Fuck! Shit!" and about 15 other expletives left Clarke's mouth as she came. Lexa slowly moves in and out of Clarke, helping her to ride out her orgasm.

"You have quite the mouth on you." Lexa teased.

"Oh you have no idea." Clarke says rolling Lexa over swiftly. Clarke took even more time than Lexa did, teasing the other girl to no end. 

Lexa was throbbing, she needed release. "Clarke." she whispered.

Lexa was so wet, Clarke easily slid two fingers inside of her. Lexa let out a noise that if Clarke hadn't had her fingers buried knuckle deep inside of her, she would have been quite embarrassed about. Lexa was already close. She felt like she was going to come, suddenly Clarke stopped. "Turn over." she ordered.

Lexa obeyed instantly, the throbbing between her legs intensifying. Clarke kissed Lexa's back, down her ass, and used her tongue to lap up all the wetness between Lexa's legs making her tremble. Clarke grabs Lexa's ass as she slides three fingers easily inside of an extremely wet Lexa. 

Her knees were shaky, she was seconds away from getting off. Clarke must have noticed and decided no more teasing. She began thrusting in and out of Lexa fast and hard. Lexa screamed loudly as her fluids covered Clarke's hands. She had never gotten off that hard before in her life. Lexa falls to the bed and rolls over, still shaking from such an intense orgasm.

Later that night, after a few more rounds, the two girls were cuddled up in bed. Clarke looked up at Lexa and kissed her. "So that happened." 

"Do you regret it?" Clarke asked.

"Not even a little bit. You?" Lexa replied.

Clarke smiled again and kissed Lexa. "Hmmm, why weren't we doing this sooner?" she asked.

Lexa grinned. "Because someone was acting like a crazy person when we first met, and throughout the whole time we've known each other actually." she winked at the other girl.

"Shut up." Clarke teased. "What does this mean for us?" She asked seriously.

Lexa knew that this was coming, but she didn't know what to say. "I don't know Clarke, I don't know." she replied honestly.

Clarke pulled Lexa closer to Lexa. "It's okay. I understand. We'll figure it out." she mumbled sleepily.

"You sound exhausted. Try to get some sleep." Lexa stated.

"Will you still be here when I wake up?" Clarke asked, falling asleep.

Lexa kissed Clarke's forehead. She couldn't answer that question honestly. Lexa knew she had to go, especially now. There was no way in hell that Lexa was going to let Nia hurt Clarke, or her family.

When she was sure Clarke was completely asleep, Lexa got up and dressed. She went back to her desk to finish the letter. Then she started a second letter, this one for Clarke. She had to explain why she had to leave her. It was the only way to keep her safe.

Lexa put the letters into two separate envelopes and addressed them both before propping them up on the desk where Clarke would easily be able to see them. She quietly walked over to the sleeping Clarke and kissed her on top of the head. "Thank you." she whispered.

Leaving Clarke was one of the hardest things Lexa had ever had to do. Lexa had no idea how much Clarke really meant to her until this moment. She turned to look at Clarke one more time before sneaking out the door. She only hoped that one day Clarke would be able to forgive her.

The drive to the airport seemed to take forever and Lexa was becoming restless. Not that she was in a hurry to rush to her death or anything. She just wanted all of this to be done and over with. No more running, no more hiding. This was it.

Lexa hoped that she would be long gone before Clarke woke up and realized she was missing. As luck would have it, she didn't have to wait long before boarding.

Lexa slept the whole flight, which was surprising considering where she was going and why. She didn't waste any time heading straight to the Queen's upon landing. She just wanted all of this to be done and over with.

Lexa took a long deep breath before knocking on the door. The next thing she knew, a bag was being thrown over her head and a searing pain shot through her head. Everything went black.

When Lexa awoke her head was still covered by the bag. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear voices. Lexa hated the fact that she had no idea what was going on, but what could she expect under the circumstances.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am so thrilled to see you all here this evening. We have a very special guest with us, some of you would even call her a ghost." Lexa heard Nia bellow. Who was she speaking to? Lexa had no idea. "Let's hear it for our 'oh so fearless' leader... Heda Lexa!"

With that, the bag was ripped off of Lexa's head and she was shoved roughly to the ground. There was an echo of gasps throughout the crowd. As far as they knew, Lexa and her whole family were dead. The crowd erupted into unintelligible chatter. People were confused.

Was this really Heda Lexa?

Wasn't she supposed to be dead?

How was she alive?

Where had she been?

What was going on?

Nia cleared her throat loudly, gaining back the attention of the crowd. "Surprise! I tried to tell you all that the Woods' family was still alive, that Heda Lexa was still alive." she spat with disgust. "You all disagreed with me. You said I was going crazy. Ha! Look at how wrong you all were. Lexa ran from her people, turned her back on all of us. She betrayed us all. What kind of leader does that? Someone not fit for leadership, that's who! I say we strip her of the spirit!"

"But that's impossible!" someone shouted from within the crowd.

Lexa looked up to see Nia smirk deviously. "That used to be true. But not anymore. They tried to keep it a secret from us, from all of us. The previous Commander's. They didn't want us to know. But if someone challenges the person with the spirit and the challenge is accepted, there is to be a fight to the death. Winner gets the spirit."

The crowd erupted again. Lexa looked around at the big group of people, her people. She saw a mixture of emotions on their faces. Anger, surprise, sadness, disappointment. It was too much to bear, so Lexa looked down again. In that moment, Lexa just wished Nia would finish her off and end it. 

"Just get on with it." Lexa finally spoke.

Nia whipped her head around to look at Lexa. "What was that?" she snapped.

"I said, just..." Lexa was cut off with a swift kick to the face, compliments of Ontari Queen. 

"Do not speak unless spoken to." Ontari said spitting on Lexa.

Her head felt like it was going to explode. Lexa knew she should just keep her head down and mouth shut, but there was something about Ontari Queen that made her so angry. Lexa sat up, spit the blood out of her mouth, and looked up at Ontari. "That all you got?"

That really pissed Ontari off. She punched Lexa in the face, making her fall back to the ground. Lexa could feel all of the kicks that Ontari was delivering to all parts of her body. She closed her eyes and prayed that this would just be the end. "Ontari, enough!" Nia finally shouted.

Lexa could feel herself slipping out of consciousness. But not before she heard Nia speak again. What she heard was broken, but she got the jest of what was happening. Tomorrow night, she would be dead. As the blackness consumed her, all Lexa could think about was the fact that her family would now be safe. 

-*-*-*-*-*-*

When Lexa finally came to, her whole body felt like it had been crushed. She attempted to sit up. "I wouldn't move around too much if I were you." Lexa's eyes darted to the source of the voice. Roan Queen was sitting in a corner of the room. Lexa tried to scoot farther away from him. "I'm not going to hurt you. Just stop moving before you hurt yourself even more." he said firmly.

Lexa opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. So she cleared her throat and tried again. "What are you doing here?" she asked hoarsely.

"I was checking up on you. Had to make sure that you don't die before Nia gets her hands on you." he replied unconvincingly.

"Well I'm fine, you can go now." Lexa spat.

Roan got up to leave. Before walking out the door, he turned back to look at Lexa. "For what it's worth, I think you would have been a great Heda. I'm sorry."

Lexa floated in and out of consciousness. Her body screaming in pain any time she moved. What seemed like days later, the door finally opened again. Lexa didn't even bother looking up. She heard somebody speak, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Then she felt herself being lifted to her feet, it was hard to walk.

After a few minutes of walking, Lexa again felt herself being tossed to the ground. This time she was able to sit herself up. She recognized this place. It was the place where the spirit had chosen her to be the next Commander. It looked different somehow. All of the chairs had been removed and there were people all around the edge of the room and up on the balconies. It looked like an arena.

"Now that we're all here, shall we get things started?" Nia announced loudly, startling Lexa. "I'm sure you're all wondering who will be the challenger of the spirit. As much as I would love to take the honor for myself, I have chosen another to take the spirit. My son, Roan Queen. Lexa, do you accept the challenge?" 

"Yes." Lexa muttered.

"HA! Yes! Now that's figured out, shall we begin the fight to the death. The victor will consume the spirit and be our rightful Heda. Judging by our dear Lexa here, I don't think she stands a chance."

"STOP!" Lexa heard someone yell from somewhere in the crowd. She knew that voice. But it couldn't be. She had to be hallucinating. Had she died already? Was this some sort of sick joke her mind was playing with her? Lexa scanned the crowd, looking everywhere for the source of the voice. That was when she saw her. Clarke Griffin, shoving her way to the front of the crowd. Following close behind her was Octavia, Anya, Lincoln, and the rest of the crew.

"Ah, our dear Lexa's new family. Come to see her die?" Nia asked with a smirk.

"Let her go Nia." Lincoln ordered.

"Lincoln Woods, it's good to see you again." Nia replied.

"Shove it up your ass Queen. Just let Lexa go and leave us alone." Anya yelled angrily.

Lexa listened to her family and Nia argue with each other for a moment before finally speaking up. "Stop it! All of you. Lincoln, Anya, Clarke, you never should have come here. None of you should have. Just go home. Be happy, be safe."

Lexa waited for Lincoln or Anya to argue with her, because she knew that they would. They always did. What she wasn't expecting, was for Clarke to jump in. "Oh shut the hell up Lexa. You are the most infuriating person I have ever met. You're hard headed, stubborn as hell, and you don't know when to just shut the fuck up and accept help. So for once in your life, can you just shut up and let your family help? Because that's what we are, family. Let us help. Let me help. Because it's what right. And because... because I was wrong about you."

Those words again. Those 5 words, so simple, yet so meaningful. Lexa mustered all of her strength and stood to her feet. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted yet again. "As touching as that was, I think you should all listen to Lexa here. You seem like a smart girl, now use your head and leave, before you lose it." Nia snarled.

"We're not leaving without Lexa." Clarke replied, the others nodding in agreement.

"Then you'll die along with her." 

Lexa's head spun around to look at Nia. "There is no way in hell that I am going to let that happen. You're not going to hurt them. I won't let you." 

"Then I guess you better win this fight." Nia motioned for Roan to attack.

Roan ran full speed at Lexa. Any other time, she would have been able to evade his assault easily. But due to the extent of her injuries, she wasn't quite fast enough. Roan tackled her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. "Roan, you don't have to do this." Lexa managed to spit out.

"She won't stop." he replied with a swift punch to the head.

Lexa knew that she wouldn't be able to win this fight. She closed her eyes and tried to talk to the spirit. She hadn't done this at all since the spirit had chosen her. Legend said that you could meditate and speak to all of the past Commanders.

When she opened her eyes, Lexa was no longer in pain, Roan Queen was no longer attacking her, and she was home. At her and Jake's spot in the back yard. "Hello Leksa kom Treekru." a man spoke from behind her. "It's good to see you finally accepting the spirit."

"Heda!?" Lexa bowed when she saw the man.

"Stand up Lexa." he told the girl.

Lexa didn't know what to say to the man standing before her. "I can't win this fight." she finally said.

"You're stronger than you know. The spirit wouldn't have chosen you otherwise. You just have to trust in the spirit, and in yourself." he replied.

"But I only technically have half of the spirit. I'm not sure how much good that's going to do me Commander." Lexa confessed.

"I am not the Commander any longer."

Lexa was confused. Of course he was still the Commander. "I don't understand Heda."

He just smiled. "You will soon Heda. You will soon." The man placed his hand on Lexa's shoulder and she felt an overwhelming force overtake her.

The spirit, all of it, had finally manifested itself inside of her. Lexa felt the complete power of the spirit, it was incredible. 

"LEXA!" she heard Clarke yell. When Lexa opened her eyes, Roan Queen was standing over her with a knife. He swung his arm to stab Lexa. With the power of the spirit within her, Lexa quickly rolled out of the way and Roan missed.

Lexa swung her foot quickly and kicked Roan in the back of the knee, causing him to fall and drop the knife. She quickly recovered it, kicked Roan in the face, and stood over him with the knife in the air. Just as Roan had been doing just moments before. "Your fight is over." she said. Roan closed his eyes, expecting Lexa to kill him.

Lexa knew that it was what everyone was expecting. But Lexa wasn't that person, so she didn't stab Roan. Instead, she flung the knife at a very unsuspecting Nia Queen. The knife hit its mark, stabbing Nia right in the chest. The crowd erupted.

Lexa reached down and pulled Roan to his feet. The crowd was going crazy. Lexa could barely hear herself think. "Everyone QUIET!" she yelled as loud as she could.

Everyone stopped what they were doing. One by one, they began to realize that the full spirit had entered Lexa and that was how she won. They all began to bow to her, their new Commander. Roan began to bow as well. "Don't." he looked at Lexa confused. "Roan Queen, of Azgeda." she said loud enough for everyone to hear. "Be better than her." she bowed her head.

The crowd was in shock when they realized what Lexa had just done. She had made Roan Queen the new leader of Azgeda. "Sha Heda." Roan bowed down to his Commander.

Lexa looked around at all the people, her people. "Ahem!" someone cleared their throat.

Lexa turned to see Echo Teles and two other agents standing there. "Shit." Lexa muttered under her breath.

"Do you mind if we speak somewhere a little more private Ms. Woods?" Agent Teles asked.

Lexa knew that it wasn't actually a question. She nodded her head and led the agents to a quiet room. "Look I know what you just saw and I just wanted to..."

"Ms. Woods, maybe you should stop talking and just listen." Echo interrupted.

Lexa closed her mouth and nodded for Echo to continue.

"You have created quite the mess here Ms. Woods. To be honest, I have never encountered a situation quite like this. You have no idea how difficult you have just made things. Under normal circumstances, we would just relocate you again..."

"Please don't do that!" Lexa interrupted.

"However." Echo continued. "It appears that the threat against the lives of you and your family, has shall we say, disappeared. Is that correct?" she asked.

Lexa nodded her head. "Yes ma'am."

"Well seeing as I'm going to have an ungodly amount of paperwork to do anyways, I'll give you two options. Option one, you can move back here, resume your old lives. Live like none of this ever happened. Or you can chose option two. You can keep your current identities, and stay where you are. Remain the Fields family forever. Just remember, that if you chose to go back to being Lexa Woods, you lose everything from this new life. Unless you chose to move yourself back. But that's all on you. We will give you and your family a couple of days to think about it. You know how to reach me. Good luck Ms. Woods." Echo said leaving with the other agents.

Lexa sat in the room alone for a few moments. She could have her old life back, be Commander to her people. But she would lose all of her new friends. Being over 2000 miles away can really put a strain on friendships. Lexa had no idea what to do.

After another moment, Lexa stood up and decided to go speak with her family. The crowd had mostly dispersed, which wasn't surprising considering federal agents had shown up. Lexa wondered around, looking for her family. "You fucking asshole!" Lexa turned around to see the most angry Clarke Griffin she had ever seen in her life, marching right towards her.

A part of her was tempted to turn and run. She didn't. "Clarke..."

"No Lexa, you don't get to talk yet. Why in the hell would you do off and do something so damn stupid?" Clarke yelled.

"Clarke..."

"Nope, I'm not done. So, I come to your house, I basically tell you that I have feelings for you. Then you kissed me. And it was fucking amazing. I thought we were going to figure this out, I thought you were going to let us all help you, let me help you. We fucking slept together! And then I wake up the next morning and you were fucking gone. Explain that to me Lexa!" Clarke was beyond angry at this point.

Lexa had no idea what to say to her. Clarke was right. She had just left. "Clarke, I'm so sorry. I left a note..."

"Seriously right now Lexa! A fucking note?!" Clarke interrupted.

Lexa sighed. Everyone was staring at her, waiting for her to reply. Well fuck it. "Clarke. I had to leave. I had to ensure everyone's safety." Clarke opened her mouth to interrupt again. "No Clarke, let me finish. I had to ensure your safety. Especially after that night. You have no idea how much you mean to me. All of you. Being with you was one of the greatest nights of my life. So yes, I left. And yes, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Especially if it meant you'd be safe. I will always protect you. Always. And..."

Clarke grabbed Lexa by the collar of her shirt and pulled her into a kiss. They only separated when they heard their friends and family yelling and whistling at them.

Both girls were smiling when they pulled apart. Octavia was the first one to approach them. "So... does this mean you're dating?" she asked.

Clarke laughed aloud and Lexa flushed red. She didn't know what her and Clarke were, but in that moment, it didn't matter. "So what did Echo say to you in that room?" Lincoln asked changing the subject.

Lexa's smile faded immediately. She had to tell them. This wasn't just going to go away and Lexa needed to let her family decide what they wanted to do for themselves. "There's something I need to tell you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said at the beginning, I don't really know how the Witness Protection Program works, so everything in this fic is basically my opinion. Also, I am horrible at writing smut, so... yeah sorry about that lol. Thanks again for reading. Comments are always welcome!!!


	13. Coming Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright everyone, this is it. The final chapter. Thank you all for your comments and kudos. I really hope you all enjoy this last chapter!

*Two Years Later*

Lexa sat out in her back yard looking up at the clouds. The past two years had been full of so many ups and downs. A lot of things were different now. Managing all of the hurdles was difficult, but Lexa had managed to pull through.

At first things were really rocky. Leaving Clarke was extremely hard on her. But Lexa had a duty to her people, and Clarke understood that. Lexa had worked hard to bring the coalition together, and when she finally did, things started to look up. 

Lexa moved back to Missouri, back to Clarke. They both finished college and decided to buy a house together. Everyone thought that they would be the first ones in the group to get married. And Raven lost fifty bucks when Lincoln proposed to Octavia at one of their family dinners.

Raven was in pretty rough shape after the accident. She had to go through physical therapy every day just to be able to walk on her leg. She still had to go to therapy twice a month to this day, and Anya had stuck by her every single step of the way.

Anya surprised Lexa, and everyone else, when she bought the bar that she had worked at when they had first moved to Missouri. Anya told everyone that she only did it because she thought it would be cool to own her own bar. She later confided in Lexa that she really did it to show Raven that she was completely committed and wasn't going anywhere.

"Babe? What are you doing out here?" Clarke called from the back deck.

Lexa looked up to see her gorgeous girlfriend smiling down at her. "I was just enjoying the beautiful sunrise, but I'm pretty sure I'm looking at something even more beautiful right now." she winked.

Clarke rolled her eyes. "You are so cheesy."

"Yeah, but you love it though." Lexa winked again.

"Whatever you say babe. On a serious note, are you ready to go? Octavia will kill us both if we're late." Clarke changed the subject.

Lexa shot Clarke a devious smile before running up the steps, coming face to face with her girlfriend. "Well I guess we better get going then. Can't have the love of my life being brutally murdered for missing her best friends wedding." she said kissing Clarke on the tip of the nose.

Clarke just smiled, she had gotten used to Lexa's dorkiness.

Lincoln and Octavia were having their wedding at the Griffin's lake house, which was a little over an hour drive. Both Lexa and Clarke were in the wedding party, so they definitely were not allowed to be late.

Within fifteen minutes of driving, Clarke was passed out in the passenger seat. Lexa chuckled to herself. "Every time." she said with a smile on her face. Clarke was notorious for falling asleep in the car.

Lexa turned on the radio and drove the rest of the way listening, and sometimes even singing to herself.

When they arrived at the lake house Lexa looked over at her sleeping girlfriend. She looked peaceful, Lexa almost didn't want to wake her. She reached over and gently shook Clarke's arm. "Baby, we're here."

Clarke moaned, "No."

Lexa laughed. "Babe yes. Unless you want O to kill us both, I suggest you get up."

Clarke whined a little bit before finally accepting her fate and opening up her eyes. "I'm never agreeing to be the maid of honor at anyone's wedding ever again." she pouted, taking off her seat belt.

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Come on babe. I need to get into my tux, and you need to get into your dress and do your hair and makeup."

Clarke pouted all the way into the house. "Clarke! Lexa! There you are. We've been waiting for you." Abby met them at the door.

"Someone didn't want to wake up when we got here." Lexa winked, teasing her girlfriend.

"Mom, she's being mean." Clarke whined jokingly.

"You two are ridiculous. Clarke we need to get you up stairs and in your dress. Lexa, Anya is down the hall to the right. She has your tux in there." Abby said motioning down the hallway.

"I'll see you soon babe." Lexa said giving Clarke a quick kiss before walking down the hallway.

"Lex! I am so glad you're here. Lincoln is next door with the rest of the guys. He's being a bridezilla and it's taking everything I have in me not to kill him." Anya said when Lexa walked in.

Lexa laughed. "Where's my tux?"

Anya pointed over to the corner of the room and Lexa walked over to get it. She got dressed quickly before following Anya to the room next door where Lincoln was waiting. "Lexa, you're here!" Lincoln said excitedly.

"Where else would I be?" Lexa joked.

"You need to be over here so I can do your hair." Indra interrupted. Indra and Aden had decided that they didn't want to stay in Missouri, so they had moved back home. Aden and Lexa facetimed each other every day. They had come back for the week of Lincoln's wedding, they couldn't miss it.

Lincoln rolled his eyes at his mother and Lexa laughed as she walked over to her aunt. "Indra you look beautiful."

"I hate weddings. Now sit down so I can do your hair." She scowled. Indra really did hate weddings.

Lexa couldn't help the smile that creeped up on her face.

Once everyone was finished getting ready, Indra told them that she was going to talk to Aurora and Abby to see when they would be ready. "You nervous?" Lexa asked her cousin.

"A little bit. Not of getting married though. I love Octavia more than anything. I just hope she feels the same way." Lincoln replied.

"She wouldn't be marrying you if she didn't feel the same way." Lexa reassured her cousin.

"Are you nervous?" Lincoln asked with a smirk.

Lexa opened her mouth to reply when Indra poked her head back in the door. "They're ready."

Lincoln, Lexa, Anya, Murphy, and Jasper walked outside together and down to the gazebo by the lake. Everyone was already in their seats when they got outside.

After a few minutes of waiting, the music began to play and everyone waited for the "bridesmaids" to come out. Monty and Bellamy walked out first with huge smiles on their faces.

Raven came out next, walking slowly down the isle, as her leg still bothered her at times. Lexa looked over at Anya, who had the biggest grin on her face as she watched her girlfriend walk towards her. Raven stopped to give Anya a quick kiss before moving to stand by Monty and Bellamy.

Lexa smiled at her cousin. It made her happy to see Anya smile so much. "Holy shit Lex." Anya whispered with a look of surprise on her face. 

Lexa turned, confused, to see what Anya was talking about. Her mouth literally dropped open as she saw Clarke walking down the isle.

Clarke had refused to let Lexa see her wearing the dress and judging by the look on her face, this was the reason why. "Dude, pick your jaw up off the floor." Anya teased.

"Shut up." Lexa shot back, still unable to take her eyes off of Clarke.

Clarke winked as she walked up to Lexa and whispered in her ear. "Keep it in your pants killer." 

Lexa flushed a deep shade of red. Clarke was evil.

Thankfully everyone was already turning around looking at the doorway for Octavia to come out. The second that she stepped outside, Lexa turned to look at her cousin. Lincoln had tears in his eyes. Lexa had never seen him look so happy before.

They had all come so far in the past two years. Lexa had never seen her family so happy before, it was amazing.

When Octavia and Lincoln joined hands, Lexa felt tears coming to her own eyes. She blinked them back quickly, hoping nobody would notice. Clarke did.

Lexa couldn't keep her eyes off of Clarke for the entire ceremony. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to have someone like Clarke in her life.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride." Lexa's head jerked quickly to look at Lincoln and Octavia. She cheered loudly along with everyone else, trying to hide her embarrassment. She had pretty much missed the entire ceremony.

Lincoln and Octavia walked back down the isle together and everyone else followed behind them. Clarke linked arms with Lexa's. "You missed the whole thing, didn't you?" Clarke whispered.

Lexa's red face answered for her. Clarke laughed. "Don't laugh." Lexa pouted.

"Babe you're a mess. But you're my mess." Clarke kissed Lexa on the cheek.

"Yes, yes I am." Lexa said with a huge smile on her face.

"Clarke we need you!" Octavia yelled from the bedroom.

Clarke rolled her eyes. "Octavia probably needs help getting into her other dress."

"I still don't understand why she needed two dresses." Lexa shook her head.

"Well she needed one for the wedding and one for the reception, duh." Clarke winked playfully.

"CLARKE!" Octavia yelled again.

"You better go. I'm going to go help get everything cleared up for the reception. Good luck." Lexa kissed her girlfriend before watching her hurry up the stairs to Octavia.

"You just gonna stand there and stare, or you gonna get your ass out here and help us?" Bellamy playfully nudged Lexa, getting her attention.

"Shut up." she joked before heading back outside to help with the set up.

She was in the middle of moving some chairs when Jake Griffin approached her. "Hey there kiddo."

"Hey Jake." Lexa replied.

"You doing okay?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm fine. Just really happy for Lincoln, his dad would have been so proud of him." Lexa smiled.

"And yours would be proud of you as well. I know I am." Jake placed his hand on Lexa's shoulder.

Lexa turned to hug the man who had become like a father to her. "Thank you Jake." 

Jake smiled. "Take care of my little girl okay." he winked before walking away.

Once the DJ got set up, he immediately started playing music. People started dancing, patiently waiting for Octavia to come out. Lexa stayed at the table where the wedding party was supposed to sit. She was waiting for Clarke to come back out.

"Heda, why are you sitting over here all by yourself?" Anya asked.

"Just taking it all in. You ever think that you'd see Lincoln get married?" Lexa asked.

Anya laughed. "Well I didn't. Not until her met Octavia. I'll deny it if you ever tell, but I think that she is perfect for him. I've known since day one that she was it for him. Why do you think I give them so much shit?"

"Aw, is Anya Woods a closeted softy?" Lexa teased her cousin.

"Shut up." she shoved Lexa. "But just so you know, I think Clarke is it for you too. You make each other better. Just like Raven does for me. I think we got pretty lucky." Anya smiled.

"Yeah we are." Lexa nodded towards the beach house. Clarke, Octavia, and Raven were walking out.

"Hi babe." Clarke said when she got to Lexa. "Want to dance?"

"Do I have to?" Lexa pouted.

"Yes." Clarke said, taking Lexa by the hand.

"Ugh. The things I do for love." Lexa winked as she followed her girlfriend out onto the dance floor. 

Lexa danced with Clarke for a while before Jake took pity on her and asked if he could cut in. Lexa walked over to the table where Raven was sitting and sat down next to her. "Done dancing already?" Raven laughed.

"So done. I have absolutely no rhythm, like at all. I hate dancing." Lexa replied.

"Yeah I could see that. It was pretty awful." Raven joked.

Lexa laughed. "I can't even argue with you on that." She opened her mouth to say something else when Octavia's voice came over the speakers.

"Okay bitches, get your asses out on the dance floor. It's time for the bouquet toss!" she said excitedly.

"Let's just stand in the back." Raven whispered.

Lexa laughed again and followed her friend to the back of the group. "Everyone ready?" Octavia asked. When everyone nodded yes, Octavia turned around to where her back was facing them all. "One... two... THREE!" she tossed the bouquet into the crowd.

Raven, Anya, and Lexa all stepped backwards as the rest of the group lunged towards the bouquet. "Holy shit!" Anya said loudly, trying to avoid being trampled.

"I got it!" someone shouted loudly.

Lexa knew exactly who it was. "Oooh Lexa, it's like fate or something." Anya nudged her cousin.

"Shut up." Lexa glared.

Clarke came running up to Lexa. "Look babe, I caught the flowers." She said kissing Lexa on the cheek.

"Yeah you did." Lexa smiled. Now or never. "You wanna go on a walk with me? Just down to the end of the pier?"

"Of course, Let me just go give the bouquet to my mom to hold for me." Clarke ran off in the opposite direction.

"Where's she going?" Octavia asked as her and Lincoln danced their way over to Lexa.

"We're going for a walk." Lexa replied.

"HOLY SHIT!" Octavia yelled.

Lexa made a face at Octavia as Clarke ran back over to them. "You okay O?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, sure. Of course. Good luck... on your walk. Be careful or whatever. Don't drown... we're just gonna go over here now. K bye." Lexa face palmed herself as Octavia dragged Lincoln away.

Clarke looked confused. "What was that all about?"

"Just O being O. You know how she is. You ready for that walk?" Lexa asked trying to change the subject.

"Absolutely baby." Clarke intertwined her hand with Lexa's and they started towards the pier.

"You look absolutely stunning today Clarke." Lexa told her girlfriend as they walked out over the water.

"Flattery will get you everywhere." Clarke winked giving Lexa a quick kiss. "Just so you know, it has taken everything I have in me not to rip that tux off of you and do dirty, dirty, unspeakable things to you. Damn you look so good in a tux." They stopped and Clarke wrapped her arms around Lexa's neck.

"Babe, don't start something you can't finish." Lexa said.

"Who says I can't finish?" Clarke said seductively.

"You are such an asshole." Lexa laughed.

"Sometimes." Clarke winked. "It's really beautiful out here. This used to be my favorite place in the whole wide world."

Lexa looked at her girlfriend. "Used to be? What's your new favorite place in the whole world?" 

"Anywhere I'm with you." Clarke looked up at Lexa.

"You make me so unbelievably happy. You seriously have no idea. I don't know how I got lucky enough to have you in my life, much less as my girlfriend. I just love you so much." Lexa said.

"I love you too Lex." Clarke replied.

Lexa smirked. "We've come a long way since 'two-shoes' haven't we?" she joked.

"Ah yes." Clarke laughed. "I can't believe I thought that you were a goody two-shoes. But then again, I also thought your name was Alex Fields for the first couple of months I knew you. How wrong I was." 

"The good old days. Filled with nicknames and snarky comments." Lexa joked.

"Speaking of nicknames. You always called me Princess. I'm assuming there was an underlying meaning behind that?" Clarke asked.

"Just remember, this was two years ago and you were kind of an asshole." Lexa said hoping that this wasn't about to bite her in the ass. "It stood for 'Princess Bitchy Face'." Lexa looked down.

Lexa looked back up when she heard Clarke start laughing. Like really laughing. "Are you seriously laughing right now?" Lexa asked.

"Babe really? Princess Bitchy Face was the best you could come up with? You are such a dork!" Clarke said still laughing.

"Yeah but I'm your dork." Lexa kissed Clarke.

"Yes you are." Clarke wrapped her arms around Lexa again.

Lexa grabbed Clarke's hands into her own. "Did you ever think we'd end up here?"

"Not in the slightest. But I wouldn't have it any other way." Clarke kissed Lexa's hand.

"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I never could have imagined in a million years that I would end up with someone as amazing as you. I always thought that after I lost Costia, that I would never ever know love again. But you changed my mind. You changed me. You helped me feel things I never thought possible. You stood by me through all of the Commander stuff and you still support me to this day. I just love you so fucking much. And I never want to lose you." Lexa confessed.

"You're not going to lose me baby. Not ever. Is everything okay? You seem a bit more open with your feelings today than you usually do." Clarke teased.

"I'm more than okay. Do you really mean it when you say that I'll never lose you?" Lexa asked.

"Lex, babe. I am yours. Forever. All of me. You are the love of my life. My soul mate." Clarke replied. 

"I'm glad you feel that way." Lexa reached into the pocket of her tux jacket and pulled out a little black box. Getting down on one knee, Lexa opened the box. "Clarke Griffin, I love you more than words could ever express. Make me the happiest woman in the world, marry me?"

Clarke had tears streaming down her face. "Yes baby, yes! A thousand times yes!"

Lexa stood up, slid the ring on Clarke's finger, and wrapped her arms around her and lifted her up. Lips met in a sensual kiss. "You have no idea how happy you have just made me." Lexa said between kisses.

"I think I have a slight idea." Clarke said with a grin.

Lexa leaned down to kiss Clarke again. "LEXA?!" she heard Octavia yell from over by the gazebo.

Lexa rolled her eyes as she turned to look at her friend. "WHAT?" she yelled back.

"DID YOU DO IT YET?" Octavia yell-asked.

Lexa rolled her eyes again. "YES!"

"AND?!" she heard like three different people yell back.

For the second time that day Lexa face palmed herself. "You think we should make them sweat?" she asked Clarke.

"I SAID YES!" Clarke yelled excitedly.

Everyone started whistling and screaming in approval. "Come on fiancé, let's go be with our friends and family." 

"Oooh I like that. Say it again." Clarke ordered.

"Fiancé." Lexa obeyed.

"I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together." Clarke smiled. 

As they walked back to their friends and family, Lexa couldn't help but smile. This was where she was meant to be. "Neither can I baby, neither can I."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it. I really loved writing this and I have a few ideas for some upcoming fics. If you have any ideas or if there's anything you want me to write about next, don't hesitate to put them in the comments or message me on Tumblr!
> 
> alindhorst-23


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